KNIGHTVISION: The Call
by JuhFreak
Summary: Fleshed out scenes, added scenes, and a completely different Part II. Includes Mike's awesome character, Kyra.
1. Intro

Knightvision #44: The Call, Part I

**Adaptation:** J'Freak

**Story:** Rich Fogel and Hilary J. Bader

**Rating:** PG - violence

**Song:** "Committed to the Call," performed by Kim Hill, in her album Arms of Mercy.

**Notes:** I first tried to draft this adaptation years ago, but was turned away by all of the new vocabulary. In this version, my changes were heavily influenced by Kingdom Come. That comic is sickeningly humanistic, but the genius artwork and character interaction can't be denied. The twist I introduce in Part II is what I had originally assumed would happen. As for **Kyra,** she was created by the amazing Mike, and she's up for adoption on my web site.


	2. Part I

"_Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses."  
_-1 Timothy 6:12

**PREFACE**  
  
Fifty years ago, Earth suffered a catastrophe. It was nearly destroyed, with its last wonder of the world obliterated, millions dead or dying, and governments in transition. When the threat was averted, a space station was built by a silent --- the Justice League Watchtower. As it orbited the planet, its residents would keep a watchful eye out for danger from the stars and trouble below. The Golden Age, it was called, and its effects could still be seen in Metropolis. Sunny skies, clean streets, even clean air.

As the battle-ridden years wore on, however, it became evident that one watchtower would not be enough. Another was built on Earth, one so famous and beautiful that Earth's inhabitants nearly forgot about the other far above them. From there, members of the Justice League

Unlimited could find rest or resources without having to go into orbit. By Superman's request, the first Earth tower was built in Metropolis, and served to boost tourism by 23. Crime also dropped considerably, if only out of fear.

Yes, it was a symbol of strength and world peace... on the outside.

Lasers fired incessantly. The robot raised its arm and paused, scanning its opponent. The other arm leveled, and it rotated, spewing fifteen deadly lasers per second. The air was filled with streaks of white.

Micron danced across the floor. He was untouched, and as of yet, unharmed. He twisted and jumped backwards, flipping in the air. Another jump and he was running along the wall, the volley of the robot in pursuit. Another jump. To the floor again. The robot followed his every move., the air filled with high-pitched explosions.

Dodging from side to side, Micron charged it. The gun arm spun faster. Micron jumped and kicked, and his foot clanged against the robot's head, causing the machine to stagger backward. In a second Micron was behind it, catching it, and tossing it across the room.

There was a crash, and the sound of scraping metal. The machine came to a halt at the far wall. Crackling, it fell face down to the floor, where its head popped off.

Micron paused to catch his breath. He picked up the robot's head.

"You win again, Micron," it said, its computerized voice very calm. "Best three out of five?"

Micron smiled, but before he could answer, the computer started blaring. "Later buddy," he said, and tossed the head aside. He raised his voice. "Hey, is some one gonna get that?"

There was no answer, and the computer continued to bleep. Micron sighed and started across the room. Let's see, Superman was away on "private business," Barda was visiting her home world, the Green Lantern was probably in deep space, Warhawk had said something about places to go and people to smash, and Aquagirl was helping her brother deal with a hurricane.

Yeah, that left him. The little guy.

Micron stared up at the imposing office chair. He jumped, soaring up to run along the armrest, and from there, leaped to the computer console. He jogged past a coffee cup, and finally made it to the right button, which he had to use both hands to push.

"Calling the Justice League! Calling the JLU! We have an emergency!"

Micron didn't recognize that voice. "Who is this?" he asked.

The caller didn't pause to answer, but the Camera Probe screen blinked on. Metropolis city could be seen, with a train moving along a bridge. "We have a mono-rail out of control in the northeast district. Over and out!" The call was disconnected.

"People can't even remember their names," Micron muttered, eternally amazed at how frantic the norms could get in emergencies. He turned and jumped off of the keyboard. His body glowed red, and he soared across the Watchtower on his way to the exit.

As instructed, he headed for the northeast sector, and just as the anonymous caller had said, there was a mono-rail. It was going amazingly fast, and if he wasn't mistaken, accelerated every second. The train engine's door opened, and the engineer appeared. He was apparently preparing to jump, but where to? The mono-rail was seventy feet above the street.  
Micron descended toward him, and the engineer eventually saw him and stepped back. Micron landed inside the engine, still glowing. He knotted his fists and concentrated. His red glow pulsed, and he grew, stopping at roughly six feet.

The engineer stared at him for a moment before finding his tongue. "There's no one on board, but we're gonna hit the One-Eleven!"

"I'm way ahead of you. Hold on!"

Micron grabbed the engineer by the shirt, wrapped an arm around his shoulder, and jumped from the mono-rail. The engineer might have screamed if he hadn't been frozen with fear. The red glow appeared again, and Micron was growing even more, now cradling the engineer in his arms as if he were a doll. Traffic squealed to a stop below, and Micron's feet pounded into the concrete, cracking it.

Micron set the engineer down.

That accomplished, he flew into the air again. The red pulse appeared quickly this time, and he shrank down to the size of a mouse. Micron soared after the mono-rail and jumped into the front engine. He looked at the speedometer: 192, 193, 194 mph... and increasing. Micron grew until he was big enough to punch the console open. He pressed a few buttons. A few more.

**TRACK DISENGAGED.**

Micron looked up. He gritted his teeth. The other mono-rail was in view now. Soon he would ram into it full-speed, killing the engineer and probably all three hundred passengers as well. He pulled a lever. The mono-rail jolted and fell away from the bridge. The other train roared past as

Micron's plummeted. Time to bail! He headed for the door.

There was a crackling flash of light. Micron was repelled backward. A force field!

SMASH!

The front end of the train crashed through a wall, into a building. The floor gave way. It crashed onto the next floor, then the next, crumbling plater, breaking beams! With a roar and a shriek the mono-rail finally hit the basement level, cracking cement. From there it slid on until it hit a brick wall. There was more smashing and scraping of metal. Broken electrical wires flashed and danced.

Then the dust began to settle.

****

**ONE DAY LATER  
GOTHAM CITY**

The night was dark, without a star to be seen. The city was too bright for that, and the pollution too thick. Crowded towers loomed against one another, discolored, all descending to alleys where everything was submerged in inky blackness. Stray animals were abundant there. Litter. People who did not wish to be seen. People who wanted to be seen but couldn't be found. All around, the sounds of honking horns and whirring hovercars worked to fill the city with an incessant buzz. This city had every right to be called Gotham; mysterious, hollow, melancholy.

The industrial district was quiet at this hour. Down one of its empty streets, shouts could be heard, coming from within the government Research and Development Center. The voices came in short spurts of pained outcry, interjected by violent crashes. A female voice threatened. A male voice replied cynically. Then an engine came to life.

The front doors exploded as a high-powered battlepod blew out onto the street, racing on to gain altitude. Batman ran through the same doors a moment later, and signaled the Batmobile. As the sleek black hovercar swept overhead, he jumped through the bottom hatch, into the pilot's seat, to take the controls. He thrust them forward, and with a burst of powerful engines, raced after the pod.

"Our hunch was right," he said. "Inque was after the prototype battlepod."

"That figures," came Bruce's voice, low and cold on the radio. "Any terrorist organization would pay a fortune for it."

"Well, I hope they didn't pay in advance, cuz they're not getting this one."

There was a high-pitched sound, as a button was pressed. Something sprang from the front of the Batmobile. Four claws protracted as it flew through the air, and it embedded itself into the rear of the battlepod. As electricity flashed, smoke poured from the pod, the engines powering down. The battlepod dove into a steady decline, and the Batmobile dove after it.

A man in a green slicker watched from the edge of a building.

In the Gotham Bio-Park, the battlepod splashed into the penguin habitat. It popped up to the surface a moment later, no completely lifeless. As the cockpit opened, there stood Inque, now in battle form. Her glistening black body stretched as she jumped, sailing over the water to land on the sandy shore. She jumped up to a concrete wall next, and disappeared on the other side.  
Batman left his own vehicle with his wings spread instantly, and he shot over the park in until descending to the middle of a seal habitat. Water lapped quietly around him. His cold eyes surveyed the park. At the far shore, a group of seals looked up at him curiously.

He glared at them, and turned to fly on. Then he looked back. "Wait a minute."

The seals barked, frightened, as one of them twisted grotesquely out of shape. Inque's familiar white eye arose, followed by a pair of bladed arms. She leapt at Batman. He spread his wings and shot into the air, just as she landed on the boulder, swinging a deadly arm.

Batman hovered above her for a moment, and in that brief second they looked at each other with familiar animosity. Knowing she was in a bad position, Inque cleared the water again to land on a sidewalk. Again, Batman flew after her, and by then it was too late to react to the bench she tossed at him.

"Ooof!"

Batman was tossed backward into the pond.

Inque looked over her shoulder. Some one was approaching, a security guard by the looks of it. He wore a rain coat, and a hat shaded his eyes. When he saw Inque was looking at him, he froze.

She melted into a long, snaking form that darted down the sidewalk, wrapping around him tightly. Obviously in shock, the man did not struggle, but only groaned as she tightened her grip.  
Batman was running toward them now. Seeing the hostage, he stopped ten feet away.

"Okay, Batman, back off," said Inque, "unless you want to see me put the squeeze on him."

"He's just an innocent bystander, Inque."

"Too bad for him."

The hostage raised his head slowly. His eyes were dark and calm, as was his voice. "I'll take it from here, Batman."

There was a rush of wind. Inque screamed as she and her hostage spun so fast that they blurred. Batman raised an arm to shield himself, as Inque lost her solidity and flew in all directions. On the sidewalk, trees, and ground, thick globs of black splattered. Gradually the wind died down, as the spinning slowed.

Batman looked around for any puddles that moved. He heard Inque's familiar groan, a moment before her head slowly rose from one of them. He quickly stepped over to hold her down with one foot.

Batman looked up at the hostage.

The man had stopped spinning now. His outer clothing was gone. Beneath it lay a black suit, covering everything from the neck down. Silver plates armored his shoulders, arms, hands, and legs. He turned, revealing the silver pendant on his chest.

"Superman!"

He nodded congenially. "Batman. It's an honor to meet you. Again." A smile appeared, and he arched a brow.

Batman suddenly found that he'd run out of sarcastic remarks. He was standing in front of the greatest hero in the world, the one all the other heroes answered to, the one that even the cannibals in New Guinea could recognize. He had revolutionized the concept of superheroes, founded the Justice League, led more world saves in one day than any human general could hope to do in a lifetime. What was he doing in Gotham?

Across the park, Inque's dismembered body began to move, piecing itself back together. Batman looked down, realizing that he wouldn't be able to hold her head to the sidewalk much longer.

Reading his thoughts, Superman stepped forward. "Allow me."

Batman stepped back. As quickly as lightning, Superman had scooped up every inch of Inque, and was standing in front of him again with his hands pressed together tightly, the mercenary's liquid body held there tightly.

"How easily does she compress into a solid?" he asked calmly.

Batman found his stammering voice soon enough. "Uh, actually, you're probably doing that right now, and, it's probably killing her."

Superman let up a little. "I understand you know how to contain her?" he asked.

"Oh! Right!" Batman fumbled with his belt, pulling off one of its silver segments. With the flick of his wrist, a dark sack unfurled. Superman deposited Inque inside. Batman closed it. "...Thanks."

Superman smiled again, as if amused to find a Batman with manners. "You're welcome. Although from what I've seen and heard, you probably could have handled it yourself."

"Thanks. Again. Uh, maybe I'm not supposed to ask, but... why are you here?"

"I'm here to see you, actually. And Bruce."

Batman stared again. Then he realized what Superman was saying. He _knew_. Heck, Superman might have known Batman's identity long before Terry was even born. Naturally, Bruce hadn't mentioned it. _Yeah, thanks a lot, old man,_ he thought. _Really nice of you to prepare me for this moment.  
_

He turned on his radio. "Bruce."

"Did you catch Inque?" Bruce asked immediately.

****

**THAT MORNING  
HIGH RISE DINER**

It was a beautiful top-story restaurant, with huge glass windows that let in the new pink of the sunrise, and a beautiful, enigmatic panorama of the city. Sitting in a window booth, a lone man looked out at the view and smiled.

He didn't look as if he could be over fifty. A trace of silver shot through his jet black hair, and his face was quite smooth. Out of habit, he reached up to push his glasses against the bridge of his nose. He also tightened his bow tie. It was something to do to pass the time.

"Your guests have arrived, Mr. Kent," said the waitress. He looked up and smiled. Behind her stood an old man, broad-shouldered but bent, who no longer bothered to hide his dark glares.

Next to him was a handsome teenage boy, an almost giddy look alight in his blue eyes. They were both wearing tuxedos, as it was a requirement for that particular restaurant.

"Mr. Kent?" Bruce asked dryly, as the waitress took a hint and left them. He edged himself into the booth, and Terry slid in next to him. Bruce finished, "I wasn't aware you went by that name anymore."

"I wanted to discuss this over breakfast," Superman said with a smug look, "and I thought it would be quieter if I went by my old name. It's good to see you, Bruce."

"It's been a while," Bruce replied, painfully obvious in his not returning the compliment.

"You seem to be holding up pretty well."

"I could use some of that Kryptonian DNA."

"You'll outlive us all, Bruce. You're too stubborn to die."

Bruce allowed a smile, genuine but brief. His brooding eyes turned to Terry, who had been watching the exchange in amusement. "What are _you_ smiling at?"

Terry continued to smirk. "Nothin'."

"And how have _you_ been?" Superman asked Terry.

The poor boy looked as if he were basking in sunshine, though he was doing his best to control it. He only shrugged, admitting, "I could use some sleep."

"Shall we cut through the chit-chat?" Bruce interrupted. "I know it wasn't---"

The waitress returned, and Bruce fell silent. "Coffee?"

"I'll take some," Terry said gratefully.

She poured a mug, asking, "Are we ready to order, gentlemen?"

"No," Bruce growled.

"I'll have eggs. Scrambled," Superman said. "With some bacon and a glass of milk."

"Alright. And you, sir?"

Terry looked up, unaccustomed to being called _sir_. "Uh, I've got coffee. I'm good."

"Okay. I'll be back with your breakfast," she said to Superman, and left again.

As soon as she was a good distance away, Bruce picked up where he'd left off, only a bit more slowly to show his irritation. "I know it wasn't Inque who brought you to Gotham."

"Alright, Bruce," said Superman, folding his arms casually on the table. "The truth of the matter is, it's been a year. I think it's time your protégé joined the Justice League."

Terry stiffened, gulping his coffee. "The Justice League?!" he hissed.

Bruce was unaffected. "I can't help but consider the timing. Is he supposed to be a replacement for Micron?"

"No. This goes beyond that." He met Terry's gaze, a gaze of complete shock. "I've watched him, studied him. He's proved his valor. His time has come, Bruce."

"It's quite an upgrade," Bruce replied. "We're talking about the fate of Gotham, multiplied by the problems of the rest of the world, not to mention your frequent visits to deep space. He can barely stop a robbery without costing the bank more in damages than they would have lost in the first place."

"It's true," Terry said.

Superman cocked his eyebrows. "You're exaggerating."

"I don't exaggerate," Bruce said. He, too, looked at Terry. "Although it's not my decision to make."

"What do you say?" Superman asked.  
  
Terry felt uncomfortable under the old heroes' watch. He looked at the table, and took a deep breath. "The Justice League," he said slowly. The phrase sent a new thrill through his body.

"Can't say it doesn't sound good."

"It's a big decision. You can postpone your answer, if you like. Bruce here knows how to contact me."

Terry gave Bruce a sideways glance. "You learn something new every day," he quipped. "But I think I'll think about it. I'd never just say no. I mean... not to you."

Superman smiled humbly, as if he wasn't worshipped by every other rookie. "I'm grateful. I'll be waiting for your answer." He looked to Bruce again. "Are you sure you don't want anything? It's on me."

"That's why I don't want anything." Bruce stared at Terry for a moment. Understanding, the silent look, Terry got up to allow Bruce out of the booth. "If you'll excuse me," Bruce said over his shoulder, and walked away.

Terry watched him go. "Anything in particular happen between you two?"

"He never did like accepting anything from me," Superman said. "I think I made him feel weak, when I intervened. The other Leaguers got that impression, too. Technically, he never even officially joined us."

This was news to Terry. "Really?"

"He declined right away. But he helped us often. In fact, we had quite a difficult year after he retired."

Terry sat down in the booth again. "Tell me more."

**THAT NIGHT  
THE BATCAVE**  
  
Bruce had spent the afternoon doing what he always did--- searching for crime from behind his computer. Terry would arrive just as soon as he had eaten supper, and Bruce would tell him what they would be investigating. Just like every other day.

He acted as if this _was_ any other day. He knew, however, that changes were about to take place. That would leave him unoccupied, with even less involvement with the fate of innocent life. Especially now that the Justice League had been functioning without him for the past twenty years...  
__

_Of course_ Terry would join. What an absurd question. Superman barely had to ask. All he needed to do was show up with a printed form, tap Terry on the shoulder, and tell him to sign. Terry wouldn't even think to ask why. Like any other boy raised in a crime-ruled Batless Gotham, he viewed Superman as some kind of god, the other Leaguers as angels. Bruce hadn't failed to notice the gleam in the boy's eyes when he looked at Superman.

They were different, Bruce and Terry. Bruce knew that. Yet this irked him especially, that Terry should hold Superman in such high regard. Batman should never answer to Superman.  
Bruce had to wonder where all this would lead.

"Hi," came Terry's voice. He was on the staircase, and judging by the amount of noise, Ace had come in with him. Bruce had to stop typing when the dog's muzzle appeared under his arm. He patted his head slowly.

"You sound tired," he said to Terry.

"I just had another invigorating fight with my girlfriend," he replied dryly.

"Have you made a decision about the Justice League?"

Terry spoke slowly now, hands in his pockets. "Yeah, I have."

Right as usual. He was going to join. "And?" Bruce pressed?

"I want in."

Bruce stared at his computer stoically. He didn't pretend to be surprised.

Terry seemed to think he had to explain. "Bruce, this is big. This is really big, the biggest thing that ever happened to me. I never thought I'd have a chance like this. I mean, I'm just a rotten kid. When Superman showed up, I never expected..."

"I'm not the one you need to be telling this to," Bruce said, looking up from the computer. Judging by the expression on Terry's face, he guessed that the boy had expected him to disapprove somehow. He did; but it wasn't his decision.

He wiped the dust from a button on the keyboard, and pressed it. The watchtower was speed-dialed.  
  
****

**LATER  
JUSTICE LEAGUE WATCHTOWER  
METROPOLIS**  
  
They stood in the computer room, all six of them: Superman, Batman, Barda, Warhawk, Green Lantern, and Aquagirl. Regarded from afar as immortals larger than life, they all lived here together with the same stress and emotions that normal people experienced--- only, in much greater abundance, and with greater power to temper.

Superman was still the leader, naturally. He had given up his dual identity twenty-five years ago, not long after his wife and parents were killed. These days, he preferred his birth name, Kal-El, to Clark. Some shortened it to Kal. One of the longest-lived heroes, Superman still upheld the same principles he had from the beginning. Truth and justice. The world's oldest boy scout.  
Batman, who had always been a knight of shadows to begin with, remained silent as he stood with Superman, listening to the others speak. He told himself it was because that was the persona Bruce had forged for the Batman. At the same time, however, he wondered if it was also because he didn't know what to say in the presence of these legends. He felt like an unworthy sinner treading upon holy ground.

To the right stood Big Barda, even more ageless than Superman, with a face young, but eyes hardened. She came from the planet Apokalips, a slave-world once ruled by a power-hungry alien named Darkseid, who had tried to overtake Earth on several occasions. Darkseid's good son Orion watched over Apokalips now, and Barda's husband Scott still resided there to help the freed slaves build new lives. As Barda now spent most of her time on Earth, and seemed endeared of Superman, there was speculation over whether she and Scott were still married. She was a hard person, however, with a cruel temper, and no one dared ask.

Warhawk had been a prospective League member since his birth. His mother Hawkgirl had been one of the originals, and his father Hawkman had also defended Earth on occasion. Dressed from head to toe in silver armor, he played the same role in battle that his parents had played. He was the fiery, ruthless one that Superman was constantly keeping in check.

The Green Lantern floated above the rest. Empowered by the mystical Guardians of Oa, he had been charged with protecting not only Earth, but that entire section of the galaxy as well. He was also one of the youngest sentries ever to wield the ring of power. The boy looked no older than eight. In that light, however, he was incredibly reposed and wise. His strong mind made him an expert at controlling the power his ring generated.

Then there was Aquagirl. She seemed confident, but meek. Her father was Aquaman, another old hero who had fought along with, and against, Superman. After Aquaman's disappearance, her brother had taken the throne of Atlantis, and she had requested to train with the Justice League until they were better equipped to extend the search for her father.

All these were gathered now at Superman's request. With the young Batman at his side, he explained to his companions that they had a new member. The moment Superman began, Batman could tell that the news wasn't going over well. Faces conveyed surprise and confusion, and more than one of them displayed anger. Barda was the first to object, her hands on her hips.  
"This is League business! How dare you do this without consulting us! It's completely against procedure!"

"Batman was one of the League's founding members," Superman replied calmly.  
Warhawk pointed an armored finger. "The _real_ Batman. Not this pointy-eared punk!"  
Green Lantern hovered low, leaning toward Warhawk. "Please," he said. "Anger just clouds the issue."

"Does it?" Warhawk snapped. "My beak tells me this stinks."

"I'm afraid Barda and Warhawk have a point," said Aquagirl. "No offense."  
Superman did not move, narrow his eyes, or fold his arms. In the same low tone he said, "This isn't up for discussion. Like it or not, Batman stays."

"You would abuse your authority?" Barda demanded. "What about our rights as your teammates? Slaves on Apokalips are treated with more respect!"

Batman decided to speak up, and to his shame, his voice came out as a stammer. "Look, I... I had no idea this wasn't a team decision. If I'd known, I might have..."

"Shut up, kid, no one's talking to you," said Warhawk. "In fact, this isn't even _about_ you. It's about respect! Something I think we've all been denied today. I don't care if you're Captain Marvel. Nobody wanted you here."

"ENOUGH!"

The room fell silent. Their eardrums pounded at the volume of Superman's voice. All looked to him. His expression had become hard and, head held high, he spoke again, he spoke coldly. "Batman has a right to be here, more than most of you. And now he is. End of discussion."

Batman considered arguing the decision; but as the rest of the Justice League stared, he felt he of all people should be the last to speak. Warhawk's mouth had tightened. Aquagirl and Green Lantern looked hurt. Finally, with a scowl, Barda marched past all of them on her way to the door. The Green Lantern quietly followed. His armor clanking, Warhawk headed for the door too, but paused to poke a finger at Batman again.

"Just keep out of my way, Junior. Hawks eat rodents like you for breakfast."

Aquagirl followed him out, only venturing a shy look in Batman's direction. Wordless, he and Superman watched their teammates disappear.

"Maybe this was a mistake," Batman said presently.

"No. I need some one I can trust."

He looked up at Superman, confused. The only explanation he received was, "Come with me."

They traveled through the long, empty corridors, until Batman felt certain that it would take him hours to find his way back. Superman finally stopped next to an armored door and pressed his palm to the security pad nearby. It scanned, and the door opened.

Inside was a laboratory, dark save the tank at the far end, in which a titan of a man was floating. His dark skin was scarred and burned. His eyes were closed, and an oxygen mask covered the lower half of his face. Next to the tank stood an operating system, over which a torn costume had been draped. The symbol was unmistakable. This was Micron.

Superman walked up to the tank and stared at it for a while. The only sound was a constant, reassuring "beep" to say that Micron's heart was still beating.

"He's hanging on," Superman said. "But his cellular structure was severely damaged."

"Whoa," Batman whispered. "That was some accident."

"Wrong. Somebody deliberately caused that wreck. And I think it was an inside job."

Batman looked at him. "What do you mean?"

"I found _this_ hidden on the mono-rail." Superman held up a small device, which Batman took and studied. "Not even Micron could slip through the force field it generates."

"But anyone could have put it there, right?" he asked incredulously.

Superman shook his head. "No. It contains technology only the Justice League has access to."

"I can't believe it," Batman muttered. "All of these guys are big-time heroes."

"I know. But I can't take any chances. That's why I want you here."

Batman didn't answer right away, listening to the flow of the stasis field, the beep of Micron's heartbeat. "I didn't think it could be that easy," he said bitterly. "Should have expected a more reasonable explanation for your wanting me here."

"Don't take it that way," Superman said. "The other things I said were true, as well. There was simply more truth that I hadn't mentioned."

"You could have," he snapped. "Then I wouldn't have had to spend twelve hours agonizing over the decision. Spying is easy. Joining for real, now that's something else."

"I'm sorry," said Superman simply.

"Forget it. Just forget it." Batman tossed the force field generator back to Superman. "Now, maybe we should go over the other members. I'm gonna need to know how good they are at detecting bugs and tracers. Access to the security cameras wouldn't hurt, too. And their files..."  
  
****

**THE NEXT DAY  
METROPOLIS**  
  
Jet packs roared as the nine men took to the sky, their stolen goods in hand. They sped through the city like streaks of light, arms at their sides.

Only moments behind them was Warhawk, held up by his anti-gravity belt, propelled forward by his own jet pack built into the armor between his black and silver wings. The Green Lantern and Batman flanked him on either side.

At this speed, it was far too windy for their voices to travel far, but their radios solved that problem. "Anyone know much about these guys?" Warhawk asked.

"I do," Batman said.

"Sorry. Anyone _experienced_ know anything about these guys?"

"Hear him out, Warhawk," said Green Lantern placidly.

Slightly irritated, Batman continued. "There's not much to know. Garden variety mercenaries. Their jet packs blow up pretty easily, though."

"Thanks for the tip," Warhawk sneered, and sped up.

Sighing, Batman stole a glance at Green Lantern, and was ignored. They continued their pursuit of the rocketmen.

Warhawk had reached one of them. Spreading his mechanical wings wide, he soared directly over the man and slashed his jet pack free. The pack sped onward, crashing through a window, but the man immediately plummeted straight down.

"Warhawk!" Green Lantern called, but didn't sound terribly concerned. Batman, meanwhile, was diving as quickly as he could after the falling man. He tucked his wings back to increase speed. _Almost...!_

The man's scream was cut short when Batman caught him. Rather than show gratitude, however, he punched Batman in the face. They flew off-balance, and crashed into a street lamp. Both fell to the ground. Green Lantern, Warhawk, and the other mercenaries disappeared into the distance.  
  
Warhawk severed another jetpack, and another. Five down, six down, seven, eight. The ninth was at the front, carrying a stolen microchip. Warhawk flew under him, facing up, and snatched the chip away.

"Hey!" the rocketman shouted.

Teeth gritted, Warhawk kicked the man off-course. Before he could even react he'd shot straight into a neon sign. There was an explosion of sparks and light. Warhawk paused to hover in the air. He tapped the radio inside his helmet.

"GL. You got 'em?"

"Of course," came the reply. Warhawk looked back and, not to his surprise, saw that the other rocketmen had all been caught before they hit the ground. The Green Lantern had formed a force-field bowl with his ring, and carried the mercenaries inside.

"Where's Junior?" Warhawk asked.

"He caught the first man, and fell behind."

"Remind me again what he's good for."

Batman finished tying the rocketman, and suspended him from the lamppost. Then, ignoring the stares of civilians, he spread his wings and shot into the air again. Three blocks later he found several police copters parked in the street, where Warhawk and Green Lantern were helping to load mercenaries. Batman did a quick head count as he descended. There were seven, plus the one he'd left behind. A quick glance at the neon sign told him enough.

"Congratulations," he said as he landed. "You only killed one person this time."

"That's ten times better than you would have done, Junior," Warhawk replied. He flew off.  
Batman stared after him. "How long is he going to call me that?" he asked.

"As long as it takes for you to prove yourself," said Green Lantern. "It was six months before he accepted Aquagirl."

"Great," Batman muttered. "How long did it take you?"

"A day." With a smile, the Green Lantern shot into the air.

**LATER  
WATCHTOWER**  
  
"So, what are you doing now?" Dana asked.

Holding the phone in one hand, Terry peered outside. Through the porthole in his quarters, he could see the bright towers of Metropolis. "Cleaning an old room in Wayne Manor," he told her. "Full of junk."

"_Again_? You do that a lot."

"Well, Wayne's got a lot of old rooms."

"That's a great way to spend your last month of summer," Dana said dryly.

Terry shrugged as he pressed a button on the wall. An iron plate closed over the window.

"Yeah, you're telling me. But, once we get all this stuff moved out, I'll be back to my usual duties and I'll have a little more time for other things."

"Two hours a day to yourself isn't much, Terr."

"I know that."

The red light over his door started flashing. Some one was on the other end, calling for him.

"Well it's been great talking, but I should get back to work," Terry told Dana.

"Alright," she sighed. "Thanks for calling."

"Thanks for talking to me."

He hung up. Later, she would probably be upset that he done it so quickly.

By activating the vid-screen next to the door, he could see who stood on the other side. It was Aquagirl. He pulled his mask on again, wondering what this was about, and opened to her.  
"Hi," she said. Her voice was soft and sympathetic. "I wanted to apologize. I know our welcome wasn't exactly a warm one."

He shrugged. "Well, I know an uninvited visit to the Batcave wouldn't have been greeted very warmly, either."

"But you _were_ invited... if not by all of us. We were just surprised at Superman's behavior," Aquagirl explained. "He normally wouldn't recruit some one unless it was a team decision."

"Understood."

Aquagirl shifted from one bare foot to the other and smiled, probably unsettled by his blunt, disinterested responses. "Did Superman give you the grand tour?"

"Yes. After the first two floors, though, it's pretty much a blur."

"Want me to show you around?" she ventured.

"Sure."

Aquagirl's do-over tour served to clear up a lot of Batman's confusion. She kept her speech simple, a contrast to the way Superman loved to launch into a speech about each room's patriotism and value. There was a certain humility to Aquagirl that couldn't be found in Superman. What did you expect from the most powerful person on the planet?

An armored door opened for them, and they stepped into a wide, tiled room. At the far wall was another door, much bigger and stronger-looking, with a pair of glass windows on either side. A maze of pipes and hoops could be seen within, a huge training system that rose almost one hundred feet above them.

"Whoa," Batman said with an approving nod. "What's this place?"

"My tank," Aquagirl replied.

He looked at her. "Your... tank."

"Don't make fish jokes," she warned him. "I never said anything about how you live in a cave."

"Well, not, live in it... I just operate from it," he said bashfully; but she had caught him. She smiled, and he couldn't help but smile back in defeat.

Aquagirl turned to approach the steel doors. "Care to join me for a swim?"

"Thanks," he said, "but I think I'll go back to the computer room. I have some files to look over."

"Files?" She looked back at him.

"Uh, you know, history and policy. This League stuff's still new to me."

Aquagirl nodded. "Maybe later, then."

"Yeah. Later."

Batman turned back, but lingered at the doorway to watch Aquagirl tap a few buttons on the operating system, and pass through the doors. As they closed behind her, she could be seen walking past one of the windows. Water was flooding into the training room. Aquagirl stood still as it washed over her, as if it were a wonderful, soothing, heavenly feeling. The depth level rose above her head and finally filled to the ceiling. She launched off with a graceful kick.

Leaning against the doorframe, Batman was amazed by her ability to flip and twist as quickly as she did. He didn't think she touched a single steel bar as she bobbed over and around them like an artist in her element, a dancer to a perfectly choreographed song.

There came a beep, one that only he could hear. Looking at his visor, he saw the red indicator in the corner. Bruce was paging. He switched on the radio.

"How's the surveillance going?"

"Too weird," Batman replied.

"How so?" Bruce asked, sounding skeptical.

Batman kept his eyes on Aquagirl. "I'm spying on people who have saved the world more times than I can count! I've considered them heroes my whole life!"

"Your point?"

Sometimes he wondered if Bruce was really from this planet. He thought of Aquagirl's soft-spoken innocence. "How can one of them be a traitor?" he asked. "It's impossible!"

"Keep digging," Bruce said. "The answer's there somewhere."

"Yeah, but where?"

Bruce fell silent. Batman looked up at the tank again thoughtfully. He froze.

Aquagirl had stopped swimming, instead floating beneath the surface of the water, a thoughtfully look on her face. A red light was flashing on the operating system, and several warning bleeps began sounding. He ran over to see what was wrong.

Built into the console was a small screen, displaying the temperature of the water. It was heating up rapidly. Batman guessed that it would only be a few minutes before it reached boiling temperature.

Aquagirl swam low to him. She peered pleadingly through the glass. Batman typed anxiously, trying to control the water temperature, but nothing he did seemed to register. He gave the controls a few hard whacks, also unsuccessful. Batman brought his hand up to the glass. Even through his glove, it felt warm. When he drew back, steam rose from his hand.

Aquagirl's eyes were half-closed, and her mouth opened as if she were in pain. With a final, weak kick, she began drifting...

Batman ran to the steel doors of the tank. He dug his claws between them and braced his legs, pulled--- Nothing. The doors were heavy, and probably had a series of wheels and mechanisms to retaliate against forceful opening. He backed up and grabbed some explosives from his belt. He tossed them against the door, and a stream of red smoke and fire flooded the room as he staggered away.

Batman waited for the rush of water telling him he had broken through. Nothing came. As the smoke cleared away, he could see that the doors had not even been dented.

"Slaggit!"

He shot into the air.  
  
****

**MEANWHILE  
TRAINING LEVEL 5**  
  
Yellow lasers streamed across the room. Tiles slid back and guns popped up, firing before they swiftly retracted.

Warhawk dove straight downward, adjusting just inches from the floor to soar over it. Lasers streamed over his gleaming armor. He remained untouched. Across the room now, he alighted near the other end and came to a running halt.

Barda raised her golden megarod and fired a hot blast. Warhawk ducked, and the gun behind him disintegrated.

"Easy, Barda!" he snapped. "This is just a training session!"

Barda continued to whirl and fire madly. "Will our enemies go easy when you face them in combat?" She jumped into the air and soared in an arc.

Another gun was exploding just as the door opened. Barda paused under fire as she saw Batman enter, staring at her for an instant. Then he spread his wings and streaked toward her, snatching the megarod from her hand.

"Hey!" Barda shouted, as Batman doubled back.

"Is he wacko?" Warhawk demanded.

They chased him through the tower.  
  
Batman reached the walkway and dove over the edge. He descended to the floor in front of Aquagirl's tank. Raising Barda's megarod, he twisted it slightly and fired. The hot blast that ensued kicked him back across the room. As the laser hit the tank, he hit the opposing wall.

There was a deafening roar, and a flood of hot water.

Warhawk and Barda stopped at the balcony, looking down at the destruction Batman had caused, the rift traveling up the tank wall, the waterfall that gushed out and filled the room, a pool of steaming water. With Aquagirl in his arms, Batman shot out of the water, hovering above them before coming to land on the balcony.

Aquagirl opened her eyes only slightly. She moaned, and rested her head on Batman's shoulder.  
"Marina!" Barda's concerned tone became immediately accusing. "What did you do to her?"

"It wasn't his fault," Aquagirl mumbled. "The tank malfunctioned... I couldn't get out..."

Warhawk bristled angrily. He pointed to the terminal. "Why didn't you call us on the intercom?"  
Batman hesitated. "I didn't think y---"

"That's right! You didn't think." Barda stooped down and took Aquagirl from him. "And it almost cost her her life!"

As they left, Batman remained where he was, kneeling on the floor. He and Warhawk shared indiscernible looks. Neither spoke. As Warhawk walked away, Batman sighed and looked down.  
  
****

**LATER  
COMPUTER ROOM**  
  
Batman sat in the big chair, facing an array of screens. The surveillance cameras planted throughout the tower helped him to keep track of most of the Leaguers. The Green Lantern was in the garden, apparently meditating. Batman had always thought there was something Buddhist about that kid. In Training Room 5, Barda and Warhawk had returned to their exercises. As for Aquagirl, the best he could do was monitor the door to her room, which hadn't opened since Barda had left it.

"I heard what happened."

Batman turned the chair sideways as Superman entered, a concerned look on the old leader's face. On the odd chance that that was pity in the Kryptonian's eyes, Batman said quickly, "I ran a diagnostic on the tank's operating system. I found this--- all its circuits have been fused."

Superman took the micro controller that Batman held out to him. He gazed at it scrutinously. "Sabotage. This confirms it." He crushed the chip in his hands. "There's a traitor among us."

When Batman spoke, his voice was low. "Who do you think it is?"

"These are my friends," Superman said, staring at the monitors. "My allies. How can I choose one? It could be the least likely person. I won't risk being wrong."

Batman followed his gaze to the screen displaying Aquagirl's door. "You think she risked herself to look good? A little early in the game for that, isn't it? And a big risk." He added silently, _She doesn't seem capable of that._

Superman seemed to notice Batman's unspoken argument. "I know it sounds crazy. But the entire concept is crazy, but... it's happening." He placed a hand on Batman's shoulder. "Getting emotionally involved will only blind us."

Batman stiffened only slightly. "I don't know what you're talking about.

He spent the rest of the day in front of the computer. With the help of satellites, skycams, Superman and Bruce, he managed to keep tabs on all of the League members--- save Aquagirl, who remained unseen. Still, he stubbornly believed that she was only resting. Maybe it was because she was the only person here who didn't dislike him, maybe it was because he thought she was pretty, but of all the Leaguers, Aquagirl just seemed the least likely to betray. Bruce had taught him to listen to his gut instincts, and that was what he was going to do.

At the end of the day, he found it ironic that he had spent hours watching Barda, Warhawk and Green Lantern travel the world fighting crime, but had done no crime fighting himself.  
How depressing that he now had to suspect the heroes of villainy. He thought about it over and over that night, as he walked back to his quarters. Didn't this traitor respect the duties they had all been called to? What was there to gain by getting rid of the other heroes?

"That's one thing we don't have," he said into his radio, once he had sealed his quarters door securely. "A motive."

"I know," Bruce said bluntly. "I should think that was painfully obvious."

He ignored the remark. "Personal glory once the others are out of the picture?"

"That seems unrealistic, since the elimination of the American Justice League would only mean chaos and more work for the survivor. Not to mention there's still the European League to worry about, with the Asian League being founded..."

"Think our mystery killer will go for the overseas guys, too?"

"That," Bruce said, "would depend on the motive."

Batman sighed and opened the door to the adjoining bathroom. The shower looked inviting.

"Any calls from my mom? She expecting me home for anything?"

"She still thinks you're in Gotham, working for me. Since you've started making your bed, she has no way of knowing whether or not you make it home at night."

"I think I'll spend the night here then," he replied. "I want to be close if something happens tonight."

He shut off his radio and pulled his mask back, massaging his hair loose. He was tired, and he looked forward to changing out of his suit. A quick, hot shower was all he would need, and then he would crawl into that warm bed, and go straight to sleep...  
  
****

**THREE HOURS LATER  
AQUAGIRL'S QUARTERS**  
  
"Marina! Wake up!"

Aquagirl stirred, her long pale hair falling about her face. "Mmm... Barda? What is it?"

It came again, the sound she had been hearing in her dreams. A machine-gun rattling that echoed through the tower. Quickly, Aquagirl rolled out of bed and straightened, brushing her hair away.

Barda was already charging for the door. "Come on!" she bellowed.

They ran through the halls, following the noise of screaming lasers, vibrating steel, and crumbling walls. The occasional strained grunt of a human echoed to them. Aquagirl stumbled, and Barda doubled back to help her along, almost carrying her into the cacophony.

A nearby door opened, and Warhawk appeared in full costume. "What's going on?" he demanded.

"I don't know, but I have a good idea!" Barda said.

They ran on, now a group of three. The roar of gunfire was close now, and around the next corner, they could see flashing light. Suddenly the lasers stopped screaming, and there was a blaring electric fizzle. A large chunk of metal clattered across the floor and struck the wall.

Warhawk, Barda, and Aquagirl now saw the cause of the noise. In an utterly demolished hallway, amidst debris and still-crumbling ceiling tile, stood Batman. One of the Watchtower's training synthoids lay on the floor in front of him, beaten, battle-worn, and finally defeated by means of electrocution. Batman was still stooped over it, panting for breath. He looked up at them slowly.

There was a burst of air and a blur of motion. Superman appeared in their midst. "I was in the satellite watchtower. What happened?"

"This thing tried to kill me," said Batman, indicating to the robot. He knelt down and started digging through its components.

"And why would it try to do that?" Warhawk asked.

"Look, if you don't believe me, you can check the security footage." Batman pulled out the hard drive and handed it to Superman. "Check it to see if it's been reprogrammed."

"Of course."

"Where's the Green Lantern?" he asked, more quietly.

Superman understood. "Deep space," he said, regretfully.

"Convenient," Batman muttered.

"What are you talking about?" Barda asked, stepping forward. Without giving him a chance to reply, she demanded, "What is that supposed to mean?"

"It's nothing," Superman said quickly. "I'll check the unit's hard drive, and take the other ones offline just in case. We've all had a long day. Let's stop worrying for the night, shall we?"  
Barda gave him a hard look before she ushered Aquagirl away. "Come on!"

Superman turned his back to them. Warhawk glanced at the demolished hallway before turning to Batman. "Real clean. You think you could have done a sloppier job?"

"When I criticize your methods..."

"You won't." Warhawk turned his back. "Cuz you can't."

"Something's wrong," Barda snorted. "First Micron, then you, and now this."

"I don't like what you're implying," said Aquagirl softly.

"Doesn't it seem like things have been malfunctioning a lot lately?" Barda asked. "We know Micron's accident was no accident. Two days later Batman weasels his way into the League, and you nearly get killed! Coincidentally, he was right there to save you."

"And you think he staged this fight with the robot?" Aquagirl asked. She gave Barda an incredulous look.

"Who would you rather suspect? Batman? Or one of us?"

"I don't _want_ to suspect anyone."

They came to a stop at Aquagirl's quarters, and she closed her eyes. Barda took her by the shoulders. "Your powers are different from your father's, aren't they? Stronger? You can connect with more than marine animals."

"Sometimes," Aquagirl said.

"So connect with Batman. Let's see if he's really everything Superman thinks he is."

"I can't do that Barda." Aquagirl's reply was even and strong. "That's not my right."  
"Even if it means saving your friends?"

They looked at one another. Barda's expression continued to harden, to deepen with anger.  
Finally, Aquagirl opened the door to her quarters. "Good night, Barda."

**THE NEXT NIGHT  
METROPOLIS**  
  
Second-layer circuitry glowed red as his hands gripped the controls. He thrust them forward, and the Batmobile roared into the night sky, into the glowing city.

"They've got me out on flyby patrol," Batman said. "I think they just wanted me out of their little clubhouse. Not that I mind getting away from the place, nobody wants me there."

"Nobody?" Bruce asked.

"Well, maybe Aquagirl." Batman smiled a little. "But I had to save her life to win her over."

"That's one way to make friends."

"Hold on," Batman said, as a beeping interrupted. "Something's coming in on the JLU frequency."

The vid-screen in front of him flashed, and the words JLU EMERGANCY appeared. They were soon replaced by a map. Upon seeing it, he sped up.

BOOM!

The theater sign exploded without warning. Deadly fire rained on the street, sending the survivors away screaming. A second explosion, and a grocery store was no more. There was no time to run before it happened again, shaking the street. Citizens staggered. A boy fell onto his stomach. Parking his car, a man opened the door and dragged the boy inside. They cowered there as thunder and flame continued to rock the city.

A small crowd stampeded down the sidewalk, sweeping up with them anyone who stood in their way. Directly behind them came another deafening roar. Red smoke poured down the street, growing, billowing, overtaking the runners. The woman at the end of the crowd dropped to her knees to shield the child in her arms.

One building, damaged by the demise of the others, began its collapse. Frozen with horror, one man stopped to stare. People rushed past him. Finally, a bigger man knocked him forward as an avalanche of rubble poured into the street.

Stillness followed. A stillness void of peace, chilled, an atmosphere of death. Fire crackled quietly, and stunned whispers arose, loud groans of pain. The streets were blocked by mountains of shattered edifices.

"Are you alright?" came the hushed murmurings, as wounded strangers looked to one another for help.

A pair of men dug frantically, trying to unearth their friend. One took his shoulders, and the other took his legs. "Can we get some help here?!" Now the voices were screaming, crying as the shock wore off. One girl, her face streaked with blood, merely sat down with a blank stare.

Shuddering groans. The buildings above were barely standing.

"Look!" Some one pointed. All eyes turned upward.

A dim silhouette flew through the night. As he soared over the inferno, they could see a flash of

silver. _Superman!_ Through the flame burst color, as the Green Lantern appeared behind him. To one side soared Barda on a pair of rocket boosters, wielding her megarod. Close by was Aquagirl, carried by Warhawk.

They flew over them like brief glimpses of hope.

Another searing flash in Gotham Harbor. An oil tanker had exploded, and now it tilted upward, sinking into the cold Atlantic. Cargo burst and sent shrapnel in all directions. Men jumped overboard.

A cabin opened, and the captain appeared, dragging a man behind him. The going was slow and hard, as the ship was now tilted almost vertically, and he had to make his way up the slanted deck to avoid the fire. The captain looked up at the cargo chained to the bow. There was a sound of straining, of metal groaning.

A chain link snapped.

The captain screamed, letting go of the man to shield his own head, as a heavy crate tumbled down at him. But it never struck.

After a moment, he dared to look again. The cargo was floating in midair, supported by one strong arm. Superman smiled reassuringly.

Her black hair whipping in the wind, Barda soared through the streets. She raised one hand to the radio in her ear. "The entire city's under attack!"

"And no sign of who's doing it," Superman responded. "I don't see any more fire bombs. Check the buildings for victims."

The steel deck shrieked as Superman plunged his hands straight through it, peeling it back to reveal the interior of the ship. As he expected, several men were trapped underneath, up to their necks in water. Only half of them wore life jackets. He jumped in to take as many as he could carry, reassuring everyone that he would be back.

The apartment was burning. An old man frantically tossed his shattered dining room table aside, climbing to his feet, unaware of the arthritis in his knees now. He was filled with adrenaline, he was searching for his wife. Finally uncovering her from the rubble, he helped her up. Then the two of them looked around. They were in the middle of the room, and every wall was on fire. The ceiling had already begun its collapse. There would be no way out.

They held each other tightly.

A crackling of a different kind came from above them. They looked fearfully. The entire roof was moving, raised by a pair of hands. Gigantic hands that glowed. As the ceiling disappeared, the young Green Lantern could be seen floating above them. His legs were folded in a lotus position as he peacefully emitted the hands from his ring, which tossed the roof aside. Then they reached down to carefully pick up the couple.

Copter sirens echoed through the streets, over the screams of civilians. The people poured from the high-rise building, too late. A flood of red and yellow burst through the windows and engulfed them. Then the second floor exploded, the fourth, the sixth, the eighth!

Warhawk burst through the window on the tenth floor just before it ignited. A little girl was seated between his wings, her face an expression of ignorant delight as he flew her to safety.

Superman stood on the ship, facing an inferno. Bracing his legs, he leaned back, spreading his hands, and as hard as he could, he clapped them together. A burst of wind shot across the deck, and the fire was snuffed.

He touched a finger to his radio. "GL. You need backup?"

The Green Lantern floated above the city. "I've got the situation under control," he said, almost with an innocent laugh. A glowing pair of arms extended to catch a pair of falling buildings. Two others appeared to force them back into their upright positions. Finally, he formed a fifth, and caught a pair of civilians who had been falling from a rooftop.

Superman flew alongside the ship. "Aquagirl!" he said. "We've got some men overboard."  
Off to the east, he saw the dorsal fin of a shark driving through the water. A young woman burst out of the waves and flipped onto the fierce creature's back. "I'm on it!" she called, and turned to a family of dolphins. "Let's pick them up!"

The dolphins called back to her as they leaped from the water.

Superman watched to make sure she could handle it. Then he himself dove into the ocean, swimming alongside the ship. Most of the it was submerged now, and he soon saw why. The first bomb had blown a gigantic hole in the hull. He swam along the gaping crack that had formed, eyes glowing. A pair of lasers darted out, welding the metal together again. He bent other pieces pack into place, and continued his welding from there. He could still hear the pumps working inside the ship. They would serve to remove the water, and get the hull floating again.

Clicking, warbling, whistling, as the dolphins swam past him... followed by something much larger.

At the surface, the sailors were shivering and splashing in the cold, just trying to stay upright, and perhaps make it to shore. Aquagirl emerged in their midst and tossed her hair back, and smiled. The men looked down in surprise. The water beneath them was growing darker, yet shallowing. A whale surfaced, and they soon found themselves not in the water but safe on its rubbery back.

It spouted contentedly.

Superman lifted the oil tanker out of the water.

In a more peaceful part of the city, a pair of boys leaned on the back of a couch, looking out the window of their highrise apartment. Grinning and pointing, they drew their mother's attention as she left the kitchen with a cup of coffee. She stopped in her tracks. Down in the harbor, a huge ship was floating across the air! She looked again, and gasped. Smoke was billowing from several places on the horizon.

Distant thunder... a distant cloud of red. Then it happened in a neighboring building--- an explosion! Their own building suddenly gave a violent lurch, and the family shrieked and screamed. Glass shattered, the woman's coffee flew, and their world turned upside-down.

Superman set the ship down on the beach. He looked up at the noise emitting from a residential district. Bright flashes of light coursed through the streets. He streaked toward them.

Clouds of dust filled the air. A tower cracked in its middle, and the top half began to lean.  
Superman shot to the corner of the building, bracing his hands against it. The girders cracked as he pushed, straining.

Crashes! Screams! The people inside, with nothing to hold on to, were bursting through the windows! Furniture and appliances tumbled out with them, all plummeting toward the street. Superman couldn't leave the building to save them. Listening to their screams, all he could do was keep pushing.

In a blaze of rockets, Barda swooped in and caught two men under her arms. She raced lower and caught a woman on her knee, setting them down as quickly as possible. Looking over her shoulder, she saw that Warhawk had caught a few others.  
The building had been nearly righted now. Superman continued to steady it, calling, "There are victims on the roof!"

"I'm there," Warhawk told him. He set down a pair of teenagers and shot into the sky.  
Superman held the building where it was. Sirens screamed around him, and he nodded gratefully to the police and ambulance copters that hovered past him. He looked down. Barda had flown to the area where the building had split. She propped her megarod on one end, and flew over to hold the other end up the other end with her bare hands.

"I've got this, Kal," she grunted.

He flew over to inspect her. Nodding, he then flew off on other errands.

The emergency copters swooped low over the roof, hover engines chopping loudly. A frightened crowd surged toward them, fighting and clawing their way inside. Paramedics and policemen did all they could to maintain order, but finally, they were forced to tell the last few that there was no more room. The crowd screamed in anger and despair.

"Get us up, now!" shouted a medic to the pilot. He listened. The copters flew off to unload, hoping there would be time to rescue the others.

The air seemed filled with police and ambulances now, loaded down with civilians, peacekeepers, and medics. The Batmobile had joined them.

Batman stared at the carnage surrounding him as he turned the Batmobile in a slow circle. He uttered a faint curse.

Superman swooped into view, hovering a few feet away. His voice buzzed in Batman's radio.

"Stick with Warhawk! He needs your help."

Batman turned to search the sky. "Yeah right, Warhawk," he muttered. "My good buddy."

On the building Superman had indicated, the roofhouse sprang open. Warhawk appeared with a wounded child in his arms. Others rushed past him and scrambled to the edge of the building, waving for the attention of three rescue copters.

The copters descended quickly enough, opening their armored doors. Men and women jumped out, rolling hospital gurneys between them. As the civilians still standing climbed into the hover vehicles, the medics loaded the wounded onto their gurneys.

"Come on, move it, move it, let's go!" a medic shouted, ushering the people on board. He turned to the pilot. "That's it! We'll come back for the next load!"

One by one, the copters took off. Those left behind were too frantic to believe anyone would return for them. They wailed and screamed desperately.  
__

_Boom!_ A familiar sound, a familiar cloud, gushing from the corner of the building. Then came another on the opposite side. The stragglers on the rooftop lurched off-balance, with a blonde woman tripping over the edge, and a man diving to catch her wrist.

Warhawk had found the child's mother, who fairly snatched him from his hands. All she could do was shriek and sob, but somehow these were filled with gratitude. Warhawk turned his back on her, looking up at the building. It was exploding. _Again?!_

A passing emergency copter was caught in the fire cloud. Its left hover wing ignited, and it began falling, tilting. Warhawk shot to its side and grabbed the flaming wing. He strained to steady it, but his anti-gravity belt wasn't strong enough for the load. Digging his claws in firmly, Warhawk triggered the jet back between his wings. It flared brightly, and he flew with new strength. The copter was righted, and they descended safely. The damaged copter shook and scraped, but it was safe.

Barda's voice came through his radio. "Building's empty. How's it going, Warhawk?"

"Still two more on the roof!"

"I got 'em," came Batman's voice.

Warhawk looked up. He saw a pair of red wings. Batman was descending feet-first, with a man under one arm, a woman under the other. They touched the ground alongside Warhawk.

"Glad to see you're finally making yourself useful," Warhawk sneered. Batman didn't answer. He was too busy being choked by the young woman's hug, and jolted by the man's handshake.

Warhawk stepped away from them, looking into the sky. His fingers touched his helmet. "I'm gonna follow that signal."

"_What_ signal?" Batman asked, tearing himself away from the civilians.

"An emergency call. Didn't you hear it? It was on our frequency!"

"No," Batman said, "but I'll go with you."

"You stay here. I don't need an amateur tagging along."

Warhawk flew away, but Batman clenched a fist in anger. "Superman said to stick with you, and I'm stickin'!" He signaled the Batmobile. As it swooped alongside the building, he ran along the edge and jumped into the pilot's seat.

He was flying off in the direction Warhawk had taken, when he saw Warhawk fly past in the opposite direction. Batman swung his around, giving chase. Higher they flew, toward the edge of the city. Soon there was nothing beneath them but ocean. That's when Batman finally saw what Warhawk was flying to meet.

"_Oh_ no!"

It was a missile. An atomic warhead, maybe, capable of taking out the entire city. Batman worked a few controls, and magnified an area of his windshield. Warhawk's armor had extended to cover every inch of his body, and he was clinging to the head of the missile, directing it upward. He was getting close, though, close to the city.

Batman could think of nothing to do to help.

A trail of smoke. The missile doubled back. Just as suddenly as it had come, it was streaking away from Metropolis, high into the air.

"Nice save!" Batman called.

Warhawk's claws still clung to the missile. He waved one arm. A salute.

Then the missile exploded.

Batman stared at the sudden cloud. A moment later, something smashed into the windshield.

Batman gaped. It was Warhawk's helmet.

The thunder in the distance reached him then, a sonic boom. His vision went white, and he felt the Batmobile jolted by the force of the blast. A thousand warnings went off on his computer, but he couldn't see them, couldn't comprehend them. The world had gone into a wild spin. All Batman could do was cling to the controls tightly.

There was a vicious jolt. The spinning immediately stopped, and Batman's neck snapped to one side. He groaned, stunned. He wasn't aware of the sudden silence from his computer, or the console that had popped free, or the wire that was sparking and hissing. Thunder still echoed in his ears, but he barely noticed that, either. He sat there for a moment.

Warhawk was dead. Batman had crashed.

Batman sat up, aching, and undid his safety restraints. The cockpit wouldn't open. He braced one foot against the dashboard, now useless, and forced the roof back. Climbing out, he scrambled over the rubble to the windshield, and yanked the helmet free. Then he stood still.  
Steam wafted from metal in his hands. There was nothing inside, he realized, with a mixture of remorse and relief. Any trace of blood or flesh had been vaporized. Only this was left. A helmet of polymized steel that had not saved anyone.

Batman's adrenaline began to wear off, and he began to realize that his whole body was aching from the crash. His chest ached the most, from the inside and outside. Yet he continued to stand there, as if nothing meant anything to him.

"Batman!"

Aquagirl had crossed the beach a hundred yards away, and was now climbing over the rubble of the city, unmindful of her bare feet on the cracked cement. Taking in the demolished Batmobile, she seemed about to ask if he was alright, when her eyes fell upon the helmet. A look of dread washed over her face. "Warhawk..."

Batman held the helmet out to her. As her hands closed over it, her knees buckled, and with a moan, she sank to her knees, a wave of pale hair falling over her bowed head.

In Batman's peripheral vision, the glow of the Green Lantern appeared. The boy alighted nearby and powered down, rushing to Aquagirl's side. They exchanged a brief look, before merely leaning against one another.

With an unwelcome hiss of rockets, Barda descended behind Batman. "What did you do?"  
"He got a call for help," Batman said. "On the JLU frequency. We were following it here when---"

"Who sent it?" Green Lantern asked. "I didn't get any signal. Did you?"

Aquagirl shook her head.

Batman's fists tightened. "Only Warhawk heard it."

"We only have your word for that," Barda said. "Don't we?"

"Back off, Barda." Superman descended toward them now, hovering above the Batmobile with his arms folded. It was one of those moments where they could see how old he was, in his lined face and tired, hardened eyes. "Accusations won't get us anywhere," he said firmly. "When we find out who set the bombs, we'll find out who killed Warhawk."  
  
****

**LATER  
THE BATCAVE**  
  
Warhawk's armor extended to cover every inch of his body, and he clung to the head of the missile, directing it upward. A trail of smoke. The missile doubled back. Just as suddenly as it had come, it was streaking away from Metropolis, high into the air.

Warhawk waved one arm. A salute.

Then the missile exploded.

The fire cloud froze in mid-burst, a circle of light framed by smoke. It all raced back into the missile, which flew backwards across the sky, descending again. Bruce watched the vid over and over, freezing, rewinding, studying, playing. He did it all without commentary, giving no explanation for his actions.

Terry was at his side, watching with arms folded. He'd made the three-hour trip back to Gotham as soon as the Batmobile had been repaired, upon Bruce's request. He had also brought the recording that the Batmobile automatically made of its every surrounding.

"What do you expect to find?" Terry asked.

"If I knew, I wouldn't have to look for it."

Terry might have expected such an answer, but he didn't bother to roll his eyes. Sadly, he'd grown accustomed to Bruce. Working the keys, Bruce rewound the footage again. Once more Terry watched the explosion that had incinerated one of the country's greatest heroes.

"He never had a chance," Terry whispered. "Must've had a timer or somethin'."

"Maybe." Bruce typed some more. He pressed a button that enabled voice control. "Freeze frame." The computer obeyed. "Reverse. Frame speed one per second..."

They watched the cloud slowly make its way back into the missile.

"Freeze. Spectral filters."

The computer showed the footage through various lenses: normal, ultraviolet, night vision, infrared...

"Stop!"

The computer froze instantly. Now they saw the missile as it barely began to burst, with a tiny puff of light proceeding from a crack. The infrared filter, however, now showed something that had not been visible, a long red line piercing the shell.

Bruce leaned back in his chair, as if he had expected to see something shocking all along. "Look at that," he muttered. "It was detonated from a remote location by some kind of ray."

"By who?" Terry asked.

"Shift view sixty degrees left," Bruce said to the computer. They watched as the angle changed. The city of Metropolis, as seen from behind, filled the screen. The detonating ray could be traced across the sky to a five-story building. "Close in."

The image grew larger, larger. They could see some one standing against a wall of flame, one fist clenched, his head thrown back. The ray turned out to be two rays in one, projected from a pair of red-hot eyes. The silver pendant could not be mistaken.

"Superman!" Terry whispered.

Bruce folded his hands, and leaned his chin on them thoughtfully. They stared at the screen a while longer. Slowly, Terry hung his head. "Superman's the traitor."

When Terry turned away, Bruce looked up, one brow furrowed. "Where do you think you're going?"

Terry pulled his mask on. "I have to go back. Warn them!"

"You have to do more than that." Bruce pushed himself to his feet, hitting a button on the console. Rusty gears could be heard turning somewhere behind them. As Terry turned, he could see the suit display parting down the middle. Between Batgirl and Nightwing's displays, a doorway was appearing. Thick spider's webs stretched and broke away.

Terry watched. Somehow it didn't surprise him that there were still parts of the Batcave that he didn't know about, or that Bruce would have a secret passage within his secret passage. Bruce walked past him, with a gait that seemed a reflection of his former glory, still full of stubborn determination. He stepped into the dark passage and stopped halfway into the shadows. Two metal cylinders rose from the floor, and behind them a round portal opened. From this rose a round computer console.

Bruce leaned his cane against the wall and pressed one hand to each of the cylinders, which scanned his palms. A ring of metal rose from the floor to sweep over him, scanning the blood vessels within his body. He stared straight ahead, as a retinal scanner made the final confirmation. When the scanners retracted again, the big console split down the middle to reveal a compartment out of which a mechanical claw held forth a box. Bruce took it in his hands.  
Terry ventured into the passage. If he had not just learned that his childhood hero was a traitor, who had killed another of his childhood heroes, he would have been impressed by Bruce's secret closet.

"This isn't the first time Superman's gone rogue," Bruce told him. "So I made sure I'd be prepared if it ever happened again. I always hoped I'd never have to use it."

When Bruce cracked the box open, green light seeped out. Soon it was bathing them both in a heavy, humming glow. Terry stared down at the tiny rock Bruce had stored there for the last forty years.

"Kryptonite," he whispered. He removed a segment of his belt, and a tiny claw protruded, allowing him to pick up the priceless rock without touching it. "But this..." He paused to strengthen his voice. "This could kill him. Right?"

"Do whatever it takes," said Bruce quietly. "But make sure you stop him."

Terry looked at the Kryptonite for one eternal moment. Then, he retracted the claw, and Kryptonite with it. Everything went dark.

****

**TO BE CONTINUED...**

Adaptation by J'Freak, 2003-2004.  
The original story is the property of Time/Warner and DC Comics.


	3. Intro, Part II

Knightvision #45: The Call, Part II

**Adaptation:** J'Freak

**Story:** Rich Fogel and Hilary J. Bader

**Rating:** PG-13 - violence, drug content

**Song:** "Arbitrator," by Scaterd Few, in their album Grandmother's Spaceship.


	4. Part II

"_For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does."_  
-2 Corinthians 10:3

**JUSTICE LEAGUE WATCHTOWER  
COMPUTER ROOM**

"The Kobra," Barda said, as if the word were poison in her mouth. "They always did want to take over the world."

"But why only Metropolis?" Green Lantern wondered.

Batman remained silent. In one hand he held the evidence, a vid of Superman destroying Warhawk. He could still barely believe it himself. He knew the rest of the Justice League would have even more trouble with the footage. Both Warhawk and Superman were men they had risked their lives for, had saved the world with, and were fiercely loyal to. But he had to convince them. That would be easier once Superman left.

At the moment, Superman was standing there with the rest of them, staring grimly at an array of news reports. "GL is right," he said. "None of the other cities were attacked. And most of the firebombs were planted simply in places where there would be a lot of civilians. Not a single police or fire station was hit."

"Besides," Batman said, "I happen to know the Kobra is running scared right now. Two weeks ago, I ruined the plan they'd been perfecting for eighteen years."

"Then who?" Aquagirl wondered.

Superman straightened slowly, turning to face them all. "I should have said something long ago, and I apologize. I'm sure you've all come to suspect it. One of us is a traitor."

Glances were exchanged. Barda saved a particularly hard one for Batman, which he managed to return without much emotion. Superman continued. He held up a control board.

"In the remains of the fire bombs, these were found. It's Justice League technology. This is what took out Warhawk, nearly killed Micron, and threatened Aquagirl."

"Not to mention one of our own robots attacked me," Batman said.

Superman looked at him. "Yes." He turned back to the others. "Over the past year, Batman has convinced me that he has the detective skills to solve this dilemma without sowing distrust among the league. That's why I allowed him to come here." Superman turned his sad eyes upon Batman again. "I didn't count on finding out he was the one who started this in the first place."

Batman nearly stumbled as if he'd been struck. "What?" he asked gutturally.

"Recently, he's been able to more easily threaten us from the inside."

"I knew it!" Barda shouted. She looked as if she might charge. Superman extended an arm to stop her.

"It's not true!" Batman said. He looked to Aquagirl, and then to the Green Lantern, for support. "I didn't even know about this until I came here! Where's your proof? What's my motive?"

"That's what I was going to ask." Superman took a step toward him. "Why'd you do it, son?"

"I didn't." He looked at Aquagirl, pained by the betrayal in her eyes, and repeated himself. "I didn't."

"Quit playing!" Barda snapped. "You're more likely to do this than any of us. Coward!"

"Is it because of our powers?" Superman asked, adding a touch of anger to his voice. Oh, he was a good actor. "Do you distrust us for that, as others do? As your predecessor did?"

Batman still hadn't moved from his place next to the computer. His fists were knotted, his head lowered stubbornly. Superman was in front of him, the Green Lantern above him. Barda was circling to stand behind him, as if relishing the moment he tried something. Aquagirl was the only person who hadn't moved, and judging by the look on her face, he knew she would be no help to him.

"Alright," Batman said. He glared up at Superman. "I'm caught."

Superman nodded, seeming regretful as he took Batman's shoulders and turned him around. Where they were going, he couldn't guess. A prison, most likely. Before they could even take a step, however, Barda swung her fist---

**LATER  
****WATCHTOWER CELL**

Batman groaned. His head spun. His body was stiff. He realized he had awakened in this position a few other times. As his eyes opened, he again saw the world through his infrared visor, a cold metal cell. Arms outstretched and shackled to the walls on either side of him, his feet were also outspread, and fettered to the floor.

He was in the Watchtower's temporary holding unit, where the Justice League kept their enemies until they were tried and sentenced.

Superman was standing just outside of the cell, looking in without an expression. His hand was moving just out of sight, suggesting that he was typing a code into the computer.

"What's the matter," Batman said weakly. "Couldn't find a... a real prison?"

Superman could recognize sarcasm when he heard it, but he decided to answer anyway. "I couldn't risk taking you in. Not when they would unmask you. I won't do that to Bruce."

Batman could have choked. "Suddenly you're all noble."

"The real Batman doesn't deserve to be punished with you." Superman obviously knew how much that phrase--- _the real Batman_ ---could sting. "As long as your identity stays safe, so does his."

"And his company stays safe, keeping Gear Industries safe," Batman finished. "Which means the Justice League doesn't lose its funding."

Superman smiled tightly. "None of that matters for much longer. Just relax, Batman. I need things to be quiet for the next few days." He paused. "It's almost sad, to see you reduced to this. You were called to be so much more."

"So were you. We both know who's really behind the threats to the League."

No response. Another smile.

Batman couldn't hide the confusion, the desperation in his voice. Leaning forward as far as he could, he begged, "Why are you doing this?"

Superman didn't answer. With one last look, he turned and casually strode away. Batman sighed and hung his head.

There was no telling how much time would pass before Superman caught the rest of the JL off-guard, finishing them off. And here Batman was, shackled hand and foot in a circular vice, never to even get a trial. Or a chance to escape.

He looked at his restraints again. Well, he was Batman, wasn't he?

**THAT EVENING  
****MEDICAL ROOM**

All was silent now. The heart monitor's reassuring beep had stopped, replaced by a louder noise, an alarm, that the Green Lantern had silenced. Micron's healing tank was dark. The water no longer kept him afloat and alive with its healing, soothing flow. As the boy looked up at his old friend, he sighed, and resolutely shut down the machine.

Aquagirl appeared in the doorway and gasped. When she found her voice, it was broken and dejected. "No..."

"He died an hour ago," Green Lantern said sadly. "His stasis field seems to have malfunctioned, and completely shut down."

Aquagirl's eyes brimmed with tears as she looked at Micron's body, now overshadowed on a nearby table. "But... Batman's in prison..."

"It was set to fail at exactly 10:41 PM."

Covering her face in her hands, Aquagirl blindly sank into a nearby chair. Once there, she didn't move, or even seem to be functioning anymore. The Green Lantern watched her with compassion. He wiped a few of his own tears.

"However," he continued, "the setting was made at 10:28 PM."

Aquagirl looked up. "What does that mean?"

"It means the Batman couldn't have done it. He was arrested at 7:23 AM."

Aquagirl wiped the corner of her eye and stood up. She approached Micron's body with a frown. "We should get him out of here," she said, pulling a white sheet over his face. She looked at the control board. "Can this be set remotely?"

"No. It's all manual," said the Green Lantern. "We kept the stasis field offline in hopes of preventing any virus invasions."

They looked at one another. "Then whoever did it had to have entered this room," Aquagirl said.

"Yes. And it wasn't Batman," Green Lantern repeated. He walked to the far wall, where a bigger console awaited, and began typing. "I'll access the vid files, in hopes that the perpetrator was not wise enough to shut them down."

Aquagirl came to stand next to him. With eager faces and hearts full of dread, they both watched the video play that had taken place over an hour before. Their eyes grew wider as they stared at the screen, hearts drumming, faces becoming pictures of utter shock.

"Aquagirl! Lantern!"

Barda's voice on the intercom caused them to jump. They looked up at the speakers. "Yes, Barda?"

"Batman's escaped!"

**LATER  
****METROPOLIS**

"Hey, look!"

Some pedestrians on the sidewalk turned skyward, laughed, and waved emphatically as Superman soared overhead. He paid them no heed, flying on to land on the edge of a building. Barda, her rockets hissing loudly, came to a stop next to him. He looked back to see the Green Lantern approaching with a bright aura surrounding him, Aquagirl standing safely within it. They, too, landed on the roof.

"I should have known this would happen," said Superman. "You never underestimate Batman."

"I'll know just what to estimate after I've crushed his skull!" Barda fumed.

Superman didn't answer. He appeared to be listening carefully. If he so desired, he could hear every sound in the world, but now he was tuning it all out, searching for one particular noise, be it Batman's breath or the way he walked. Superman seemed to give up on this, and squinted, his eyes becoming a ghostly blue. He was looking through the buildings that surrounded them.

"No sign of him. Barda, take the northeast. I'll take the northwest. He's most likely heading back to Gotham. Aquagirl, Green Lantern, search everything to the south. GL takes the skies. Aquagirl, employ the sea gulls."

Superman and Barda flew off. Aquagirl and the Green Lantern glanced at one another, before the aura surrounded them both again, bearing them away across the sky.

"Do you really believe he couldn't detect Batman?" Aquagirl asked.

"Quiet," said the Lantern. "He could still hear us if he wanted, you know... Wait."

They landed on the sidewalk. Some passersby watched them curiously, but stayed out of the way. The Green Lantern emitted a beam from his ring, one resembling a flashlight, but instead of illuminating, it worked as an X-ray. As it swept over the street, it revealed the sewer system below.

"Come on." The beam became a large hand, which he used to open a manhole. Another hand went around Aquagirl, and he carried her into the sewer with him. The knee-deep water gave a sickening splash.

The Green Lantern's ring shimmered again, and Batman was illuminated. His eyes narrowed, and he raised his fists threateningly. But nothing happened. Green Lantern only smiled sadly and shook his head.

Aquagirl held a finger to her lips, motioning for quiet. She pointed to her ear, and pointed upward. Batman nodded, understanding. Superman might overhear them--- and while he seemed intent on letting Batman go for some odd reason, he didn't know that Green Lantern and Aquagirl suspected him. They couldn't risk his overhearing.

Still, Aquagirl could not simply say nothing. "I'm sorry," she whispered.

Batman shrugged, and waved a hand to silence her. Her turned, and walked into the darkness.

Eventually, Batman strapped on an oxygen mask against the putrid smell of the water. He didn't know what he was going to do yet. He couldn't go back to the Batcave, because Superman knew where it was. In fact, it probably wasn't safe to contact Bruce at all.  
Not that he needed Bruce, he reminded himself.

All he _needed_ was a way to surprise Superman. Or maybe even lure him somewhere, as long as there was time to use the Kryptonite in Batman's lead-lined pocket. That was the real... challenge...

Batman stopped walking. He had an uneasy feeling, as every hair on his body stood on end. Some one was in this tunnel with him.

"Hey, you."

He wasn't startled by the voice. He merely turned his head slightly, searching the sewer with his infrared lens. The speaker was a glowing warm object in the darkness, peering at him from around a corner. He switched to night vision, hoping to see her face.

"Come with me," she said.

He recognized her. So he followed.  
  
**LATER  
METROPOLIS SLUMS  
  
**She was usually referred to as Kyra. They didn't call her Supergirl very often, as there weren't many "super" qualities about her. The daughter of the deceased Jimmy Olson and Supergirl, she was bitter, feared, and to the relief of all, reclusive. She could have been looting to her heart's desire with little to stand in her way, but Kyra hadn't taken much advantage of her powers, although she was often seen with a Metropolis gang known as the Street Rats. If society didn't bother her, she usually didn't bother society.

The hideout Batman had followed her to was empty, but he could tell it was used excessively, and probably unoccupied only because Kyra had made it so. Bare mattresses, scattered trash, and used drugs were everywhere. Kyra herself had plopped into a sagging chair, and was regarding Batman with a cryptic look.

"So you're the Batman," she said finally, when he still said nothing. "Not exactly what I imagined. The spandex makes you look skinny. And there's less mystery without the cape."

He didn't react or retaliate.

She leaned forward, more serious now. "I've taken pains to line my hideout with lead. It's peaceful in here. And if Superman ever cared to come by," she said bitterly, "which he won't, he wouldn't be able to see or hear anything within these walls. You can operate from here as long as you need to until he goes down." She looked up at him again. "I know what he is. I have for a long time."

"And what do you want from me?" Batman asked.

Kyra rose to her feet. Her blue eyes were intense as her voice. "Kryptonite!"

He wasn't fazed. "Planning a suicide?"

She snatched up a handful of slappers from a nearby table. Batman had seen plenty of those in his time. They were patches that, when administered to the skin, pumped the system with a chemical known as venom. It was empowering, addictive, and deadly.

"These barely affect me," Kyra rantred. "I don't even get a buzz anymore. So I thought I'd try an old classic..."

"Heroine," Batman guessed, noticing a syringe lying nearby.

"You got it, Sherlock. There's only one problem. I can stab myself as hard as I can, but all it would do is break the needle. Half human isn't human enough, apparently. But if I can have even a tiny piece of Kryptonite, just enough to soften my skin..."

"You can kill yourself," Batman repeated. "Just slowly."

Her hand flew to his neck. The suit was strong, but not so strong that he didn't feel her fingers squeezing his throat closed. "Do you have a photographic memory?" Kyra shouted. "Do you know what it's like to see your parents' murder in your mind? Over and over?!"

Batman remained still until she released her hold. He'd suddenly remembered, as if for the first time, the night that he'd found his father's murdered body in the living room. Although he seemed hard and stoic on the outside, within he was feeling fresh, shooting pain. Looking at Kyra's enraged face he could only feel pity. Perhaps if he had not grown so addicted to his Batsuit, he would be like her, addicted instead to pain-numbing narcotics.

And would his crusade not kill him someday, as the drugs were bound to kill her?  
Batman turned away from Kyra and marched across the room. There, he unclipped a segment of his belt, and opened it. The green glow of his Kryptonite filled the room.

Even from that distance, Kyra collapsed. He watched her pale face grow paler, while her eyes alit with pain, and something else. Curiosity.

After scratching off a tiny piece of the rock, Batman put the remainder away. The glow diminished, and the hum silenced.

"Wow," Kyra breathed. She remained where she was for a moment, still weak, until finally, slowly, climbing to her feet.

They met at the narcotics table. When Batman placed the splinter of Kryptonite into her hand, she flinched, sending it flying through the air. He caught it quickly.

Eyes narrowing thoughtfully, Kyra said, "Put it on the table."

He did so. Kyra's eyes glowed red, and he guessed she was using a combination of telescope vision and heat vision to carve the splinter into a syringe needle.

"It stings when you touch it," Kyra explained conversationally. She was apparently still marveling over it, having never seen Kryptonite before. "And my whole body still aches from feeling it in the room."

_And I still have to kill Superman that way,_ Batman thought.

"What's the status on the League?" asked Kyra, as she steeled herself to pick up the Kryptonite and fit it to the needle.

"Micron was still critical, the last I knew. Aquagirl and Green Lantern at least believe I'm not the traitor, but Barda's backing Superman one hundred percent."

Kyra's heat vision returned, to fuse the Kryptonite and syringe together. "And Warhawk?"  
"Warhawk is dead."

Forgetting her lasers, Kyra looked up suddenly, sending searing light across the room. Batman barely jumped back in time. Kyra remembered to dim her eyes a moment later.

"He killed Warhawk? How?" she sputtered. "When?"

"The other night. During all those bombings. Warhawk blew up, and Superman was the one who made sure it hapened. I saw with my own eyes." Batman quieted for a moment, remembering the explosion, the headless helmet embedded into his windshield. "And now the Justice League believes that I did it."

Kyra nodded slowly, angered by the thought. She looked down at the heroine needle, and fumbled to inject the drug into her bloodstream. Closing her eyes, she sighed, and began to smile. After a moment, it spread into a grin.

"I'm glad one of us is having a good time," said Batman cynically.

Kyra laughed softly with a shake of her head. "Oh-ho, Bats. I know something you don't know."

**THAT MORNING  
****JUSTICE LEAGUE WATCHTOWER**

In a sudden burst of rage, Barda slammed her fist into the keyboard. It shattered. Her hand went straight through, with sparks of electricity flying into the air. Even more angry now, Barda removed her hand and turned away, pacing back and forth. "How could he get away?!"

"Maybe it's for the best," Aquagirl said soothingly. "I'm still not entirely certain Batman is the one who betrayed us."

"What?" With a sweep of her long black hair, Barda whirled again. "Why not? You heard what Superman said!"

"Superman was wrong."

"You always want to think the best of people. He didn't pull his conclusion out of thin air, you know!" Barda made an exasperated sound through clenched teeth. "He murdered Warhawk and Micron, and he's running around free!"

"Relax," said a voice. "I'm right here."

The Green Lantern, floating in the air, turned slowly, a look of mild shock on his face. Batman was hanging upside-down from the ceiling. Upon seeing him, Barda raised her megarod and fired a searing blast in his direction. Batman somersaulted in the air to land on the floor. He held up a hand. "Just give me five minutes!"

"I'll give you a gravestone with your name on it, you---!"

The Green Lantern generated a row of prison bars between Barda and Batman. "Wait," he said soothingly. "I want to hear what he has to say."

He looked at Batman, with an expression that asked, _Why are you here?_ Batman walked to the computer, pulling a mini-recorder out of his belt. He plugged it into the console. "Watch."

The screen blinked on and began playing. It was a vid of the nuclear missile, the one that had killed Warhawk. Just on the brink of exploding, a little puff of fire protruded from the head. Batman typed a while, changing spectral filters until they were looking at it through infrared. A line of laser could be seen detonating the missile. Batman typed some more. They backed away from the missile and rotated, now seeing the Batmobile, now tracing the laser to Metropolis. Batman zoomed in several times.

The laser, upon closer examination, turned out to be two lasers, one for each of Superman's eyes.

Batman stepped back and looked at the others. The Green Lantern and Aquagirl had ashen faces, not as surprised as they were saddened. There would be no more denial for them now. As for Barda, it was impossible to read her stony look of derision.

"I don't believe it," she said.

Aquagirl closed her eyes. "It is hard to accept, Barda, but---"

"No, I mean I don't believe this thing." Barda motioned at the computer.

"It came directly from the Batmobile's recorders," Batman said.

"That's supposed to convince me? I know even less about your vehicle than I do about _you_! It's easier for me to believe you fabricated this!"

Batman finally lost his temper. "I _know_ it's crazy! But we're never going to get to the bottom of this unless you open your eyes and stop being so pig-headed!"

"Pig-headed?!"

Batman never saw it coming. Suddenly his head was throbbing, and he was flying across the room. His body slammed against an appliance and he went down. The room spun. Batman slowly pushed himself up, aware of Barda's charging toward him.

There was a flash of green. Barda's fist was caught in mid-air. As she struggled, the green spread all around her and lifted her. She kicked and punched the air, but was unable to free herself. "Let go of me, Lantern!"

"Not until you calm down," the Green Lantern said.

Aquagirl ran to Batman's side, where he grudgingly allowed her to help him to his feet. He looked at Barda. "I have more proof," he said. "Otherwise I wouldn't have bothered to come."

"And what proof would that be?" Barda spat.

Clanking steps reached their ears. "Me."

They all looked to the doorway. Clad in black and silver armor, red eyes glaring out at them, stood Warhawk. A twisted smile appeared on his lips as his name was uttered in shock. The Green Lantern dropped Barda. Everyone raced toward him, with Aquagirl throwing herself on his chest for a hug. "How did you...?"

"He wasn't actually on the missile," Batman explained.

Warhawk nodded. "I was operating the armor by remote. That's the only reason I'm not dust right now. I've been lying low at Kyra's hideout."

"What made you decide to get out of the armor?" Barda asked skeptically.

"The emergency call, and the fact that I was the only one who got it. With everything that's been happening around here, I got suspicious."

"Wait a minute," Barda said. "That's it, then? You're all thoroughly convinced Superman just suddenly wants to kill us? We should at least talk to him. He deserves that much!"

"_You_ talk to him," Warhawk retorted. "And _then_ I'll rip his arms off!"

"I believe he is in the observatory," said the Green Lantern. They started off.

Batman hung back, preferring to stay out of the spotlight for a while. He opened his lead-lined pocket again, and stared at the Kryptonite for a moment. Was this what it had come to? Assassination?

_Whatever it takes._ He remembered Kyra's look of approval, and Bruce's words still ringing from two days prior. _Wait_, he thought, dismissing them, and hiding the Kryptonite again.

The Leaguers caught up with Superman in the medical room. Micron still lay under a white sheet, his body neglected in all the confusion. When they entered the room, Superman turned, and his eyes fell on one in particular. "Warhawk! You're alive."

"No thanks to you!" Warhawk was already halfway to Superman, ready to fight. Barda caught his arm, and he gave her a look of challenge.

"Not yet," she said.

Superman arched a brow at their behavior. He seemed tired. "What's going on?"

"We were hoping you could tell us, Kal," Barda said. "There are some things we need to discuss."

"First of all, this." The Green Lantern pressed a button on the computer, bringing up the vid-file he and Aquagirl had been watching the previous night. Everyone stared as the screen clearly showed Superman entering the medical room, tapped on Micron's controls, and then leaving. "What were you doing here?"

"Adjusting Micron's stasis field," Superman said. There was still a shadow of pain in his eyes, enough for everyone to notice.

"Sorry to be contentious," Green Lantern said, "but that stasis field never needs adjustment. It runs on the patient's bio-feedback."

"So what were you really doing, _hero_?" Warhawk's voice dripped with contempt. "Finish him off like you tried with me?"

"I don't know what you're talking about. But I---"

Aquagirl drew a loud gasp. "Look!" she cried, pointing to Micron's body under the sheet. "Did you see that? I think I saw his chest move!"

The rest of them froze. A light of hope flickered in their hearts for a moment, but none dared to approach, to find out if they were wrong.

Barda marched over and drew back the sheet. She touched the side of Micron's neck. "Nothing."

Then there was a jerk, and as a result everyone flinched. Micron's body had just spasmed.

"Could be the last few nerves shutting down," Warhawk said.

"No, Marina's right!" Barda cried. "He's still alive!"

"That's what I was trying to tell you," said Superman. "The machine failed, but Micron didn't. These assassination attempts haven't worked out so far. That's why I brought Batman in. To find out who was responsible before things got worse."

Superman's companions looked at each other grimly, and parted. Batman stood in the doorway behind them, and Superman went so far as to show surprise, as if his superior senses had not been on alert, had not detected Batman's presence.

"You did bring me in," Batman said. "But that doesn't make you innocent."

Superman looked at Batman, and then at the others. He drew the sheet over Micron again protectively. "What are you all saying? That _I'm_ the traitor?" He glared at them. "_Now_ who's being traitorous?"

Barda approached him. "Kal, you know I'd never betray you. Or anyone else who's fought at your side. But something's wrong."

"Nothing's wrong!" Superman barked.

Now Aquagirl drew closer, reaching out to him. "Please. Let us help."

She froze suddenly, her eyes clouding. One hand hovered over Superman's chest, and finally, tentatively, touched it. The suit material squirmed as something moved beneath it, and then, the material tore. Aquagirl staggered back. With a screech, something peered out at her with one bulbous red eye.

Everyone was staring at Superman now. Whatever the thing was, it quickly crawled away, hiding elsewhere under Superman's suit. His eyes began to glow like red embers.

"Look out!" Green Lantern cried, and projected a wall. Superman's heat beams struck it and were reflected into the ceiling. Debris fell, steel beams crashing onto Superman. A cloud of dust shielded him from sight.

The beams were swiftly tossed aside. With incredible speed Superman disappeared, and then reappeared behind them. Warhawk pounced, and the two flew across the room to crash against the wall. It broke on impact. Warhawk continued to fight, but Superman merely took hold of his head and delivered a sound punch. Warhawk's helmet clanged loudly.

Barda leveled her megarod. As the bright blast streaked toward Superman, he held up Warhawk like a shield. Warhawk let out a scream as the laser struck his chest. Red light danced and shimmered around the room.

"No!" Barda screamed.

Warhawk was tossed aside. Both the Green Lantern and Barda cried out as he struck them, knocking them to the floor.

Superman's cruel gaze turned on Batman and Aquagirl. Batman remembered something, and reached for his belt.

"Get down!" Aquagirl cried. She tackled him to the floor just as a piece of machinery came flying at them. It crashed into a nearby wall.

Batman watched with dread as his Kryptonite, still encased, danced across the floor. No! An air vent lay just ahead. Batman could only watch as it slipped through the grate and disappeared.

Aquagirl lay at his side, unconscious. He pushed himself up on his hands and knees, cursing himself.

Superman stood over them with an angered look. "The one person I thought I could trust," he muttered.

Red pulsed behind him. Superman turned, and froze in surprise. Micron's scarred body was glowing, growing. He filled the room, looking confused but determined as he reached for Superman and picked him up in one hand.

Batman didn't stay to watch. He jumped to his feet and ran across the room. Kneeling by the air vent, he braced himself and yanked off the grate. Then he was kneeling, reaching into the darkness for his belt component.

"AAH!" Micron cringed, and his big fingers parted. Somehow, Superman was free. Swooping around, he punched Micron in the face with both fists. Micron's form began to wobble. He was shrinking again, slipping back into unconsciousness.

Batman came up with the Kryptonite.

Superman still hovered in the air. A streak of red hit his chest suddenly, and he fell. Barda had revived. She jumped from the machine on which she had stood and fired again. Superman had only time to look in horror. The beam hit him hard at full power, and kept coming for several seconds. He staggered. Steam rose from his body now, along with the smell of burning. Barda paused, and delivered a finale blast. Superman was knocked into the wall, and this time, judging by the sound of the explosion, he had gone straight through.

Batman charged into the smoke and waved his hands, frustrated, trying to clear his vision. As the cloud wafted away, he could see Superman's form against the early morning sky, a tiny speck over Metropolis, steadily shrinking.

"Slag." He looked at the Kryptonite in his hand again. It was so small, so harmless inside its lead casing. If only he'd taken it out in time... like the real Batman would have.

Slowly, he turned around to survey the damaged room. "Everyone alright?"

Batman hadn't realized he'd given the signal for role call, but that's what he received.

"Barda. Check."

"Green Lantern. Check." He continued, "Micron is only unconscious."

"So is Aquagirl." Barda jumped over the shattered computer. She then reported, "And so is Warhawk, but I can't tell how well he's doing."

Batman only nodded slightly. They'd gone against Superman, and none of them had been killed? Then again, he was with the Justice League.

Then again, the fight wasn't over yet.

Batman walked to Aquagirl and lifted her up, setting her aside on one of the many hospital beds. He could see that the Green Lantern was still looking after Micron, putting him back into his tank. Soon the water was flowing placidly again, the heart monitor projecting a steady beep.

"Wha--- where is he! I'll kill him! I'll---" Warhawk let out a groan. With a motherly scowl, Barda was helping him to one of the gurneys. His breastplate had been badly melted, so that the profile of a hawk was no longer visible. As Barda helped to remove the ruined armor, Batman could see a bad burn across Warhawk's chest, probably excruciating, but not fatal.

Considering what Barda's megarod had done to the tank wall a few days ago, Batman had to admit that Warhawk had some pretty good armor. Bruce would be jealous. Warhawk was just lucky that Barda hadn't hit him with full power, as she had with Superman.

"We lost him. I can't believe we lost him," Warhawk said, simmering. "Now he could attack from anywhere, at any time. He's probably holed up at that fortress of his, making little plans."

"That would be logical," Green Lantern agreed.

A few minutes later, Batman realized Aquagirl had awakened, but only stared at the ceiling in a confused daze. He went to her side. "Marina?" he asked gently.

"Batman?"

"Right here. Relax. Fight's over, for now."

She blinked. Then she sat up, slowly. Batman steadied her. "Where's Superman?"

"He got away," said Barda, who was still administering some sort of healing technology to Warhawk.

Aquagirl didn't respond.

Batman walked to the farthest corner of the room, leaving the others behind as they spoke. He didn't feel like being with them right then. Not when he'd failed miserably. He just stood in the darkness, watching, brooding, and wondering how often Bruce had done the same. Could Bruce have ever felt this belittled in the presence of these titans? Could he have ever felt like so much of a failure as he did at this moment?

_Bruce._ He had probably silently watched the entire thing.

Batman touched his radio.

"The Kryptonite was inches from my hand," he whispered. "But I hesitated."

"Why?" came Bruce's voice.

"Because he's the greatest hero who ever lived!"

Hard silence from Bruce.

"Uh, one of the greatest. I figured there had to be another way."

"But now you know better," Bruce said.

He looked down. What they'd said was true--- this was a turning point in his life. "Yeah," he replied. "I know better."

Batman looked up at the others again. Aquagirl was describing the strange third eye they had discovered on Superman's chest. "I only made contact for a second, but I got such a weird feeling," she said. "If only I'd had another second or two."

The Green Lantern floated toward them. "There's nothing about him on the news. No sightings."

"Then he's at his fortress," Barda said.

"But what good is that to us?" Warhawk asked. "How can we fight him when we don't even know where fortress is?"

Batman stepped forward. "I think I can help," he said.

All eyes turned to him in disbelief. "You _know_ where the Fortress of Solitude is?"

"No. But I know some one who does."

**LATER  
****FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE**

It was a cave, Bruce explained to them, buried under a hard layer of ice that could be fifty to three hundred feet deep, depending on the time of year. It wasn't far from the north pole, and to get to the entrance, one would have to swim half a mile through freezing currents, with no turning back. It was the kind of place that only a select few, such as Superman, could easily access.

Barda had a way around that.

She came from a galaxy hundreds of light years away, where her people had made their attacks on earth by opening portals in space called boom tubes, tunnels of bright light that opened in thin air and pulsated at a different speed than other dimensions. Barda still kept a boom tube generator, called a Mother Box, with her at all times. It certainly came in handy.

When she leaped through to land in the Fortress of Solitude, the first thing she saw was a pair of statues towering to the icy ceiling. They were dressed in Kryptonian garb, and resembled Superman. His parents, she figured. The statues supported a globe between them, and passing under the globe, there was a walkway leading deeper into the fortress. Warm air wafted through to caress her face.

Barda looked over her shoulder. Warhawk was swooping in, followed by Aquagirl and the Green Lantern. Batman was the last to pass through the tube, and he didn't do bad for his first try. He only landed flat on his stomach.

While the others pretended not to have noticed, Batman climbed up grumpily. "So much for the element of surprise," he muttered.

Barda raised her mother box and pressed its single button. The boom tube shrank and sealed with a clap of thunder.

They looked around, expecting to see Superman at any moment, and be launched into another reeling, impossible battle. Yet, as the seconds ticked by, nothing happened.

"Perhaps he's not here," said Green Lantern.

"Or maybe he's setting a trap for us," Aquagirl countered. "Right this minute."

Heading resolutely for the tunnel, Warhawk told them, "I say we find him first!"

"I second that!" Barda said.

They ran, their path lighted by the Green Lantern. As they went, strange sounds reached their ears, like the cries of tropical birds, the growls of larger animals. As they rounded a corner, each slowed to a stop, blinking in the sudden artificial light. On either side of them, rows of glass windows set the barrier for strange, lush gardens full of unearthly creatures. Batman turned suddenly as a giant, fanged worm rolled past him and disappeared into the trees.

"What is that, his pet?" he demanded, stepping back.

"No," said Aquagirl slowly, "I think this is some kind of zoo. He once told me about---"

"Over here!" came Barda's cry. They ran to her, where she stood next to an open window. "Something got out."

Batman peered inside. "Maybe there was nothing here to begin with."

"There was something, alright," Green Lantern said. He pointed. "You see those blue things?"

Batman looked to see several blue pellets of different sizes, on a rock that protruded from the water. Batman leaned in, and picked up a pellet in one hand. "What is it, food?"

A faint smile crossed Green Lantern's face. "Used to be."

With a shudder, Batman flicked it away.

"Come on," Warhawk growled.

They moved further along the tunnel. Aquagirl hung back, studying the various creatures surrounding her. Her eye caught movement at the other end of the corridor, and she gasped. Movement--- and a silver pendant.

"Look!"

Superman took to the air, flying straight at them. Warhawk met him head-on. They slammed into one another, and there was a grunt and a crushing noise. Electricity zapped in the air. Warhawk drove Superman into the cave wall, where he shattered and fell to the ground. His head bounced until Warhawk caught it under one foot.

"A robot," Aquagirl breathed.

They had all known that Superman employed robots. Whenever he needed to get away from the world, he would dispatch them so that no one realized he was missing.

A rush of air. Batman, Barda, and Aquagirl were struck to the floor. Recovering quickly, they looked up. Two more robots were flying overhead, turning to rush at them again with fists extended. Barda raised her megarod. Green Lantern raised his ring. In a flash of green and red, they severed the robots into halves, sending the sparking pieces crashing to the floor. Smoke trailed through the air.

Aquagirl turned to Batman. "Behind you!"

Without looking, he whirled and tossed a batrope. The batarang at the end gave it flight. Superman caught it in one hand, faster than the eye could follow, and gave a tug. Batman was yanked forward. A fist went to his face, and he fell.

"You _are_ green," Superman said.

Batman reached for his Kryptonite. "Join the club."

The moment the Kryptonite was revealed, it filled the air with its chilling glow. Superman cringed as if he'd been struck, but he remained standing, trying to overcome the powerful affect the rock had on him. His hands shook as he reached for Batman, who slowly climbed to his feet, while Superman sank to his knees and, with a groan, collapsed.

Batman held the Kryptonite steady. The rest of the Justice League gathered around.

"Good work, kid," Warhawk said. "Now finish him off!"

"No!" Aquagirl sent Batman a pleading look. Batman ignored her, holding the deadly rock over the Kryptonian. The silence grew sickening, but still no one intervened.

Batman kept his eyes on Superman. They waited for the death.

Finally, he lowered the Kryptonite, and shook his head. "No."

Aquagirl agreed quickly. "We need to see what that thing on his chest is."

The others nodded quietly. She circled around Superman, kneeling over him. Then, finding the creases in his suit, she pulled off the upper half, baring his chest. Everyone crowded closer.

It clung tightly to Superman's upper torso, shaped like a six-limbed starfish. Purple tentacles were blotched with black. The center of its body was white, and there a red eye resided, its lid half-closed. The creature seemed equally affected by the Kryptonite, as if it experienced things the same way Superman did.

Warhawk was the first to speak. "Lantern? Barda? You two have been around the galaxy once or twice. Ever see anything like this?"

"Never," Barda said.

The Green Lantern moved into a lotus position in the air, bending forward. A giant magnifying glass sprang from his ring, which he used to study the creature. "Whatever it is, it appears to have embedded itself in his skin."

"Any chance of getting it off?" Batman asked.

"I must remind you. It is not one alien species before us. It's two. And I do not yet understand the subtleties of their interaction."

"I'll take that as an _I-don't-know_," Warhawk said dryly.

Aquagirl circled Superman again, coming between him and Batman. She knelt down to look at the starfish-like being. Slowly, she reached for it.

Batman caught her by the wrist. "What do you think you're doing?"

"I'm trying to figure out what's going on in the mind of this--- thing," she said. "I'm the only one who can do it."

He looked at her for a long moment, weighing the possibilities in his mind. Finally, he released her, and she touched the creature's clammy skin. Her eyes rolled back before the lids closed, and she bowed her head in concentration. They waited in apprehension until she finally began to speak.

"It's very old. Centuries. It came from a world of water... it didn't leave by choice. The planet's tides had been affected when its moon fell out of orbit, killing almost all of the inhabitants. This starfish was the only one left...

"One day it left the water to relax on a small boulder. As it looked up at the stars, it noticed a light in the distance. The light grew and grew, and finally a ship appeared. A huge ship. The creature had never seen anything like it. It never occurred to it to be afraid, until it was too late. He was captured."

Batman noticed when she started referring to the creature as a _he._

"He soon realized that the traveller was a collector," she continued. "A _preserver_ of different species throughout the universe. The last of their kind. Time and again the creature tried to escape. But it wasn't strong enough.

"Years passed. The preserver grew overconfident. He took some one into the zoo who was too strong even for him. It was Superman. Somehow Superman managed to escape his cell and get into another, where an Earth bird lived. The sunlight from the bird's Earth environment restored Superman's strength, and he was able to defeat the Preserver.

"Superman had no way to return the creatures to their home planets, so he kept them here at his fortress. The creature was still a prisoner, but now it had a plan. It had seen Superman's strength and it wanted that strength for itself. So it waited until he came to feed it, and attacked him. It managed to hang on long enough to take control..."

Aquagirl opened her eyes. "It's been on him for years."

"Years?" Warhawk echoed. "Then why'd it wait so long to try to kill us?"

"Because it has bigger plans." Aquagirl stood. "Follow me."

Barda and Warhawk fell in behind her. The Green Lantern created a slab of energy to carry Superman on, and suspended Batman's Kryptonite above him. They brought up the end of the line, following Aquagirl to a large steel doorway.

"Controlling Superman wasn't enough for the creature," Aquagirl explained. "It wanted the whole world. But it couldn't do it on its own."

She approached a steel door at the end of the tunnel, and entered the access code. The door slid open. They were looking out on a beach of ice and rock, where there danced a deep pool of sea water. Starfish like the one on Superman were everywhere, swimming, moving, teeming in the water and on every rock. It was impossible to estimate how many.

"He was using Superman to help him cultivate these things."

Batman walked to the edge of the water, seeing another steel door beneath the surface. "It looks like he was going to release them into the ocean."

Aquagirl nodded. "And with us out of the way, it wouldn't be long before they'd take over."

Barda and Warhawk stood together on a platform of ice, overlooking the creatures.

"Whaddya think, Barda? Poison? Heat? Electricity? Or do we just stick to the old-fashioned ways?" He brandished his claws.

"I have a better idea," said Barda. She held up her mother box.

"SCREEEEECH!"

A pair of starfish leaped from the water. Warhawk and Barda cringed as the creatures latched onto their faces, clinging tightly. They struggled to rip them off. Another jumped onto the Green Lantern, whose concentration broke long enough for his ring projection to fail. Superman was dropped to the floor, and the Kryptonite with it.

Aquagirl had caught the one that jumped at her. It writhed and reached as she struggled to control it. Batman rushed forward to help her, but stopped when another jumped onto his back. It wriggled across his body, refusing to let go no matter how hard he yanked. It could not, however, find a trace of his skin. Batman pressed a button on his belt. Electrical current surged through his suit. The steaming starfish fell back into the water.

Barda still struggled with her starfish; but soon her angered cries faded. Batman turned to see her lowering her hands from her face, where the starfish still clung. Warhawk had done the same. Aquagirl and the Green Lantern were now completely subdued, and Superman was reviving.

Batman's eyes darted to the faint glow on the floor. He ran toward the Kryptonite. Barda saw, and raced him to it. He dove, and missed, while she snatched it up in her hand. Batman dug his claws into the ice to keep from sliding.

"Barda. Give it to me," he commanded, holding up one hand.

She turned, and pitched the Kryptonite as hard as she could. He never saw where it landed.

A groan. Superman climbed to his feet, rubbing his face drowsily. Batman, too, got up, and backed away as the Justice League began to close in.

"You gotta fight this thing, all of you! You can't let it control you. Aquagirl! Barda!"

Neither the hosts nor the masters answered. He was trapped against a wall now. Looking from one person to another and remembering each of their abilities, Batman knew he was unlikely to win a fight.

He threw a flash bomb to the floor.

The starfish squinted as a bright light filled the cavern. They raised their hosts' hands to shield their eyes. When the light subsided, Batman was gone.

**ABOVE**

The snow fell in flurries over an endless terrain of white. The ground cracked, and Batman pushed himself onto the surface. He looked around for a moment, wondering what he was going to do, before a familiar engine roared above him. He nearly smiled at the sight of the Batmobile.

An explosion of snow and ice! Superman burst through. Both his eyes and the eye of his master were fixed in a glare. Batman shot into the air. A pair of lasers trailed after him. Batman grazed past them and landed in the cockpit of his hovercar, which immediately streaked away.

Inside the car, Bruce's watching him through the dashboard's vid-screen. Batman never thought he would be so happy to see such an old, grim face.

"Everything okay?" Bruce asked.

"Not really," he said dryly, "but thanks for sending my ride for me."

"I never did like those boom tubes."

The Batmobile raced over the icy badlands, leaving a jet-engine scream that caused snow to crack and fall. Superman followed in the air, flying at a leisurely pace.

"...And now those starfish things have all of them. Any ideas?"

"All I can do is have Barbara contact the military," Bruce answered.

"But they'll bomb the place!"

"That's their job."

Batman gritted his teeth. An alarm sounded, and he changed the vid-screen to display rear view. Something was closing in on him. Superman.

"What's the top speed on this thing?" he asked distractedly.

"Mach3," Bruce replied.

"Is that faster than a speeding bullet?"

Superman's eyes glowed, and two lasers pierced the sky. The Batmobile jerked a hard left. The searing lines followed, and all shot straight into the air, spiraling, dipping on a roller coaster of close hits.

A missile was fired from the rear bumper. Superman didn't try to dodge it. Fiery explosions rippled across the cold air. Batman, still racing ahead, looked back in vain hope only to see Superman emerge from the smoke unharmed. The starfish on his chest seemed to have obtained the same invulnerability.

**WARNING! WARNING!** the computer blared. Superman had grabbed the left-rear wing. Holding it steady, his eyes glowed again, and he burned a red gash through the metal. The Batmobile broke in two, flying in opposite directions and trailing tongues of flame. Batman could only hold on and wait for the landing.

A hillside of snow crumbled on impact. The Batmobile slid onward, trailing pieces of itself in the snow. Fire and smoke stained the air. Then, at the end of a long white ditch, it slid to a stop.

Superman hovered over it. Quiet had returned to the air, the ironic peace of snowfall. Smiling slightly. Superman began his descent to the crash site.

Kyra swooped down from above.

Superman was unprepared for her sudden appearance, and the force with which she drove her elbow into his chest, right into the eye of the starfish. The momentum carried them both across the air, until they crashed into a mountain of ice, boring into it for one hundred yards or so.

When friction finally slowed them down, Kyra leaped away from him, and he rose quickly.

"That's a nice fashion statement," she said of the alien starfish on his chest. Her eyes glowed red.

Superman's own eyes glowed, and their heat beams emitted in the same second, meeting in the air between them. They held there for a while, but as Superman stepped forward, Kyra began to weaken, her own beams growing shorter and shorter. She gritted her teeth and tried harder. Her fists tightened.

Heat was filling the tunnel now. The walls began to drip.

"You're no excuse for an uncle. You're definitely a lousy hero," Kyra continued. "What's wrong? You can't stand to see some one _else_ being a hero, either? You've just got to kill them all!"

As she raised her voice, the melting walls cracked. It was only a matter of seconds before they crumbled, the entire tunnel caving in and burying them in an avalanche of cold.

Standing next to his crashed hovercar, Batman waited for the mountain to stop growling. Within moments, there was no trace of either Kryptonian, and no sound but the biting wind. Then two explosions burst from the cliffside, spinning and sending snow in all directions. As Kyra slowed, she kicked at Superman. He caught her, and yanked her to him for a punch. Batman heard her cry. Then Superman carried her higher, so high that Batman had to use magnification to see them, and he could only watch helplessly as the two of them dove toward the earth again, hitting it with an explosion of white.

Batman took a step toward them. He stopped when Superman twisted Kyra's head, and dropped her limp body to into the snow. Batman's teeth gritted as he looked at her.

Superman was turning to him now. "There's no way out of this for you, Batman."

Batman walked toward him without a word.

Superman extended a hand. "Come," he said, his voice warm and inviting. "Be part of us. Soon it will be our world."

"No thanks!"

Batman ducked, pressing a button on the controller hidden in his hand, and a grappling hook sprang from the Batmobile. Superman's face registered shock just before the hook latched onto his chest, onto the creature embedded there. Electricity surged through the cord.

Batman watched as his childhood hero flashed and spasmed. His scream grew louder, more anguished, as the seconds fizzled past. Sporadic light cast distorted shadows across the snowy valley. Then, with a last anguished cry, Superman fell to the ground, his muscles twitching every now and then.

Holding his breath, Batman waited. He ventured forward a few steps.

Superman sprang to life again. His hands flew to the starfish, ripping it free with a look of pure instinct, and dropping it to the snow. Then, as quickly as his strength had returned, he fell backward again.

Batman moved closer, more eagerly now. He left the starfish in the snow with the electric grapple, and bent over Superman with concern. He grinned. Superman was reviving.

"Ohh... What's going on?" Superman looked at him in surprise. "_Batman?_"

"You don't remember?" Batman asked. He helped Superman to his feet.

"No."

He remembered Aquagirl's words, how the creature had been on Superman for years. She'd never specified how many. Over all that time, it had been the starfish that had driven Kyra away, and figured out who Terry was. The real Superman knew nothing of this.

He was clean, as always.

"Kyra? Kyra!" Superman knelt next to her, drawing her into his arms. "She's older. And she's... What happened to her?"

"The two of you were fighting."

Superman seemed to realize what that meant. He closed his eyes in grief. A thin layer of snowflakes covered them now, like a pale shroud of lace.

"I can hear a heartbeat," he said, finally.

Batman gave a quiet sigh of relief.

Superman's eyes fell upon the starfish in the snow. "What's that doing there?"

"Staying put, for now. Listen. Kyra can rest in what's left of the Batmobile, but we need to get back to the fortress. Think you can still fly?"

Superman smiled then, and rose above the ground. "Yeah."

"Good. Let's move."

**LATER  
****FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE**

Warhawk, Barda, and the Green Lantern watched the calm waters. Finally, Aquagirl splashed to the surface, speaking past the starfish that covered her face. "This pool feeds directly to the water below the ice cap," she explained. "There's a steel door down there blocking the passage."

"Can you open it by yourself?" Barda asked.

"I..." Aquagirl fell silent. They followed her gaze to the open door across the room.

Superman had arrived. An unconscious Batman was slung over his shoulder, blocking his chest from view. The others stepped toward him, while Aquagirl watched from the pool.

"Is he with us?" Barda asked.

"Not yet," replied Superman.

"We can fix that." Warhawk held up a starfish, which waved its arms in anticipation.

"Wait." The Green Lantern stepped forward. His starfish's eye had narrowed suspiciously. "Something's not right. Put him down."

"Of course."

Superman bent over. Batman's hands touched the floor. Immediately, he flipped onto his feet and rushed at the others, while Superman took to the air. His exposed chest said enough--- he was no longer a slave.

The Green Lantern cried out as his starfish writhed in pain, struck by a pair of laser beams. It loosened from its host's face, and the real Lantern hurriedly pulled it away.

Batman leaped, wielding an electric batarang. It spun across the air and struck Barda's starfish. As she fell, Warhawk took her place, charging Superman with a fresh starfish in his hand. Superman's heat beams sizzled in the air. Warhawk dodged it. The beams burst forth again. The two of them circled.

"Uuhhhghhh!" Barda peeled the starfish from her face, and slapped it to the floor. Her megarod crushed it.

Batman flew overhead toward the pool. Aquagirl disappeared under the surface. He dove after her.

The pool was incredibly deep, continuing downward into darkness. As Batman swam, his rebreather feeding him oxygen, he sensed movement from the rocks surrounding him, as if they were alive. They teemed with millions of starfish. As he pursued Aquagirl, they pursued him.

Batman caught Aquagirl's ankle. She turned back, her starfish glaring, and swung her fist. Batman had underestimated her, and was surprised by the strength of the blow. He lost his grip as his head snapped back, spinning.

During the seconds that he floated aimlessly, he caught sight of the horde that swam above him. An army! The alien creatures descended and latched onto him wherever they could. He struggled, and in turn felt them struggle, their writhing limbs clinging to every part of his body. Still more came, climbing on top of one another, until his vision was blocked, and he felt himself sinking from the weight...

Warhawk sprang his claws. His metal gauntlets clanged as Superman's strong hands clamped onto them, and forced his arms down. They were face-to-face now. Superman fired a pair of heat beams. Warhawk's starfish screamed, and withered, while Warhawk fell to his knees, feeling the pain of his slave master.

The water churned, and the Leaguers faced hundreds of starfish as they leaped into the air at once. Superman's eyes darted from one to the other, rendering dozens of them to coal within seconds. Barda joined in with her megarod, and the Green Lantern with his ring. They fought savagely, and for the moment anyway, the starfish returned to the water.

Aquagirl reached the bottom of the tank. A portcullis loomed over her, its wheel built into the wall to the right. She grasped it, and turned. With a momentary resistance and a loud groan, the steel door opened to the ocean. She sensed the creatures around her swimming closer.

Superman's eyes widened. The water level was dropping! He flew up to a stalactite and broke it off, and it plunged into the pool. His eye beams swept along the ceiling, cutting loose rock after rock.

"Kal, what are you doing?" Barda asked.

"Aquagirl must have opened the gate!" Superman tossed another boulder into the water. "I've gotta block it."

"But she and Batman---"

"He knew what he was getting into."

Barda watched him only for a moment, before she cranked up her megarod and began helping. The fate of the world was worth the sacrifice of two lives. Even if those lives belonged to great heroes and friends.

Batman couldn't move. Every inch of his body felt like lead, heavy and stiff, thanks to the starfish that refused to release him. He shifted as if in slow motion, trying to dig past the slagged aliens to reach his slagged belt.

Finally, his hand touched a belt component. A power surge flooded his suit circuits, electrocuting the water. The starfish screamed and let go of him. Free, he quickly whirled about to take in his surroundings, and saw Aquagirl floating at the bottom of the pool. She was stunned by the electricity, but if he knew anything about Atlantians, she'd recover soon. He kicked down to her.

Aquagirl's hand still grasped the portcullis wheel. She shook her head slowly, and went back to turning it. Batman shot a pair of pierce cords from his wrists, and they hooked onto the wheel. She glared over her shoulder at him.

_Sorry, Marina,_ he thought. He electrocuted the cords. Holding the metal wheel, Aquagirl twitched violently. Both she and the starfish screamed, and she lost her grip.

Again, he was amazed by her strength. Aquagirl rubbed her hands momentarily, before angrily swimming up to him. Batman charged his gloves and swam to meet her. They met in the center of the pool, swinging and kicking at each other. Batman went for the starfish. Aquagirl held his wrists back.

When the water grew darker, they paused in their fighting. Both looked up to see an avalanche of boulders descending on them. In a moment it hit them, and with a crushing thunder, the two were being pushed to the bottom of the pool. There could be no resistance--- only a brief glimpse of the stone floor below, and then a painful collapse.

Batman lay in darkness. He didn't know if he was under one rock or a mountain of them. The Batsuit's Servo motors would multiply his strength by ten, but even that would only help him so much. _Come on, suit!_ he thought, wondering how much power he had left. _Help me out this last time!_

He braced himself, and heard his Servo motors grind and whir. He took a deep breath of his last oxygen, and heaved. Pain shot through his back. It did feel like mountain, this rock he was trying to lift. Suddenly he felt a slight hint of freedom, as the rock tilted, and rolled away.

He was floating again, but he could still see the starfish everywhere, and more boulders crashing in from above. Aquagirl lay at his feet. He wrapped his arms around her and fired his rockets, and they shot upward. Batman kept his eyes fixed ahead, kicking off of every rock that drew near.

Barda and Superman watched the water grimly.

With a splash, Batman shot into the air, carrying Aquagirl. They backed up as he descended and landed on the edge of the ice. His oxygen mask retracted. They heard his panting now. Superman fired at laser at the starfish on Aquagirl's face, and it cried weakly before curling into itself.

Batman removed it, and tossed it back into the water. He helped Aquagirl to sit up. Her sea green eyes showed that she didn't know everything that had happened, but she knew enough to smile.

Green Lantern and Warhawk joined them. They were smiling, too.

**SIX HOURS LATER  
****ABOVE**

Batman stood next to his Batmobile. Wrecked twice in one week. He grumbled to himself as he picked up the pieces that had been scattered and half-buried in snow drifts. Dropping the sliced wing next to the rest of the vehicle, he looked over at the Justice League.

The Green Lantern had made a towering cylindrical tank with his ring, filled with water and starfish. He was picking up the last one now, with a claw that was also generated by his ring, and dropping it into the tank.

Further off were Superman and Kyra. Under her flowing blonde hair, Kyra looked tired and angry, but at least she'd stopped trying to kill Superman long enough to listen to them. She'd grudgingly bought the alien mind control story, but that had not in the least fixed the problem: after watching her parents die, she had been abandoned for eight years, when she had needed her uncle the most. During that time, she'd seen and done terrible things on the street. Forgiving and forgetting wasn't that easy.

Batman trudged through the snow to Barda, who was also watching the Kryptonians.

"Whaddya think?" he asked. "Will they be okay?"

"Hard to say. But Kyra's a tough kid." Barda smiled at Batman. "And I wouldn't mind another strong woman joining the League."

"There she goes again," Warhawk muttered.

Aquagirl stood next to the giant tank, caressing it with one hand. She seemed mesmerized by the marine animals inside. The others watched her exchange looks with the creatures, silently, until they noticed Kyra walking back to them. Superman followed her, purposefully hanging behind. They had obviously not resolved much.

"Got the last of those dregs?" Kyra asked huskily.

Aquagirl replied, "They're all accounted for, I'm sure."

Barda had her mother box ready, and she took a step toward the creatures, eyeing them cruelly. "So where should I boom them to?" she thought aloud. "Some... empty galaxy? Or maybe the surface of the sun!"

"Barda." Superman's hand fell upon her shoulder. "These creatures never asked to come here."

"Back to his old self again," Warhawk said.

"We should send them home," said Aquagirl. She braced her hands against the tank, and the creatures inside began swirling and churning. Finally, the biggest starfish appeared, and swam right up to the green barrier between them. Aquagirl's eyes closed, and so did the creature's.

They watched the two of them silently communicate, until Aquagirl, eyes still closed, raised a hand. "Barda? Let me see your mother box."

Barda gave it to her. Her mind still connected with the creature's, Aquagirl pressed the button on the controller. There was a flash of light, and a boom tube opened in the sky, stretching into another dimension and back again. Its vanishing point grew into a large circular window, through which they could see a red sky and a world of water. The creature's home.

They climbed the staircase of light, into the tube, and the Green Lantern carried the cylinder with him. Holding it over the water now, he released the starfish. Thousands of them poured into the crimson waters and swam away in a twirling tide.

When the Justice League turned back, the tube sealed itself behind them.

Kyra stared at the empty space where the portal had been. "They didn't deserve that," she said softly.

"Who deserves anything anymore?" Barda growled.

Kyra lifted wordlessly into the sky to fly away. Superman watched her long after they had lost sight of her, and he gave a heavy sigh. "She'll be alright," he said quietly. "But this will take time."

Batman resumed walking, his eyes already returned to the wreck of a Batmobile waiting ahead. He stopped when Warhawk clasped his shoulder. "Well kid, I gotta admit. I was wrong about you."

"An understatement," the Green Lantern said. Everyone was looking at Batman now. "You saved the world!"

"Think you could get used to it?" Superman asked.

Batman looked at him. His mask still formed the traditional glare, but his voice carried a disbelief that made them all smile. "You're saying you want me with you full time?" he asked.

"We could really use you," Aquagirl said enticingly.

"I dunno," Batman admitted. "You guys play awful rough." He sent another look at his Batmobile.

"Come on." Barda tossed her head. "It'll put you one up on the _old_ Batman. He never made it past full-timer."

"Yeah," Superman said. "He wasn't what you call a joiner."

Batman looked down. The starfish had called him into the League to be framed, even putting him on the case, but it had never expected him to discover the truth. Yet here were many of his childhood heroes, suddenly welcoming him, saying he had what it took.

He thought of the Metropolis Watchtower, and the space station in orbit. He thought of the old Supergirl, of Static and Gear, of J'Onn J'Onzz and Wonder Woman, the Flash, and Hawkgirl. He remembered playing with action figures.

He remembered he wasn't a team player.

"I'll never be on up on the old Batman," he said quietly. "All I could ever hope for was to equal him. We're a lot different, him and me. But team play? H'm... maybe we have something in common after all."

He turned his back on them. They watched, stunned and slighted, as he departed, and slowly exchanged looks. Only Superman continued to watch him, and only Superman retained a smile.

"More than you know, son," he whispered. "More than you know."

Adaptation by J'Freak, 2003-2004. Kyra copyright Mike 2004.  
The original story is the property of Time/Warner and DC Comics.


End file.
